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thI lip 


ST EXODUS 


AN ACCOST OF VOYAGE 




■tr & 6 


0 ,? THE 


First Emigrants in the Bark “Azor, 




THEIR RECEPTION AT MONROVIA, 


WITH A DESCRIPTION OF LIBERIA—ITS CUSTOMS AND 
CIVILIZATION, ROMANCES AND PROSPECTS. 




A Series of Letters from A. B. Williams, 




- CORRESPONDENT OF THE NEWS AND COURIER. 


CHARLESTON, S. C. 

THE NEWS AND COURIER BOOK PRESSES. 

1P78. 








CHAPTER I. 


THE AZOR’S TERRIBLE TRIP—OUT ON THE DEEP, DEEP SEA—NINETY 
MILES THE FIRST DAY—SOCIETY ABOARD—ST. JAMES’S AND ST. 
GILES’S—PATIENCE OF THE DUSKY PASSENGERS IN THE THROES 
OF SEA-SICKNESS—PROVISIONS INSUFFICIENT AND OF BAD QUAL¬ 
ITY—NO MEDICAL STORES OR STIMULANTS—WASTE AND DIRT—A 
MATRIMONIAL ROW—PRAYERS ABOARD—THE FIRST DEATH AND 
FIRST BIRTII—GEORGE CURTIS EXPOSED—THE FIRST STORM—A 
SCENE THAT BEGGARS DESCRIPTION—THE FATED SUNDAY—DE¬ 
CEPTION PRACTICED BY THE EXODUS ASSOCIATION—MEASLES 
ABOARD—CURTIS AND HIS WIFE FIGHTING—A SUDDEN DEATH— 
AND YET ANOTHER—MEASLES QUITE PREVALENT—FORMING A 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL—PERVERSITY OF THE EMIGRANTS—THEIR OBJECT 
IN LEAVING THE SOUTH—THE SIXTH DEATH—TWO MORE—A 
BROILING SUNDAY—SHIP FEVER CERTAINLY ABOARD—WATER RUN- 
NING SHORT—HALF RATIONS ISSUED—MORE AND MORE DEATHS— 
A TERRIBLE TORNADO—FRESH PROVISIONS ALL GONE—MAKING 
FOR SIERRA LEONE—IN PORT AT LAST—OFF AGAIN FOR MONROVIA, 


Sierra Leone, May 30, 187S.—You all 
know how the Azov, with her experimental 
load, left Charleston amid the sounds of “The 
Gospel ship is sailin’” and “We’r houn’for 
the promis’ land,’ ” sung from the bark’s j 
decks, and r e-echoed from the Ptwosin and 
Allison. The last sound of Charleston heard j 
by the emigrants were the notes of “The 
Sweet Bye and Bye” from the excursionists 
aboard the Pocosiu. It is customary in let- : 
ters similar to this to give over two or three j 
pages of 

“REFLECTIONS ON LEAVING OUR NATIVE 
LAND.” 

as if anybody cared a snap what your, reflec¬ 
tions were. We aboard the Azov had our re¬ 
flections, and very grave ones, on leaving our 
native land. We reflected whether or not we 


were destined to be sea-sick, and to what ex 
tent. Doubts on the point were speedily and 
decisively decided after crossing the bar. One 
by one the passengers fell until, with one or 
two honorable exceptions, everybody was 
down. But surely such a good matured and 
philosophical set of sick people was never be¬ 
fore seen. The steerage passengers would 
each, between the intervals of his or her own 
attacks, laugh at, and imitate with grotesque 
gestures and words, some unfortunate com¬ 
rade, amid the uproarious hilarity of the 
others. The few who were not affected 
seemed to witness the sufferings of their fel¬ 
lows with exquisite enjoyment. The hours 
passed thus until bedtime, when most of the 
passengers “turned in.” A few, however, 
I preferred catchiug what breeze there was by 


















2 


sleeping on the decks. There was little ap- [ 
plication for or dissatisfaction concerning the i 
food that evening. 

f think most of the passengers were much 
disappointed in the ocean. They had evi- ! 
dently expected to meet with waves about a 
linndred feet high, ornamented with piscato¬ 
rial banquets of whales, leviathans, sharks, 
mermaids, sea cows, and all the real and 
mythical monsters of the deep. They were j 
therefore somewhat disgusted at the ripples j 
which sparkled in the sunlight in every direc- lj 
tion, and the fish which declined showing [ 
themselves in any direction. 

The morning of the second, regular, day 
found everybody languid, feeble and disposed ; 
to fasting. Despite sickness, however, amuse¬ 
ment could be found, for one way, in watch- J 
ing the arrangement of society which even 
so soon began to take place. The cabin pas¬ 
sengers composed the elite —the creme de la 
creme. The quarter deck composed the “West 
end” of the Azov (she was steering cast) 
and there the foot of the plebeian wdio 
litfed and moved and had his being 
in the lower strata of the steerage 
could not tread. The captain, the two 
mates and I. the only white souls aboard, 
represented those frayed ends of society 
ashore who are tolerated ^everywhere, wel¬ 
comed nowhere. At 12 o’clock on Monday, j 
April 22, it was announced that we were 

NINETY - MILES FROM CHARLESTON BAR, 

having been becalmed during a large portion 
of the night. All traces of land had faded j 
from sight, and I felt some curiosity to see 
how the sentimental, or love of home, would 
display itself. Careful observation, however, 
failed to discover an indication of either of 
those feelings. When the strip of mist, rep¬ 
resenting the land of these people’s birth and 
bringing up, which contained all the memo- I 
ries, sweet and bitter, of their past lives, and [ 
on which their friends and kin yet remained, j 
was fading from their sight forever, there was 
no development of any feeling other than a 
slight interest in the distance from them at 
which it could be seen ! 

Every witling and witless wight who has 
ever been to sea has exhausted his literary 
abilities in describing the developments of 
sea-sickness. It is unnecessary, therefore, for 
the description to be gone into, especially as 


my appreciation of the humorous features of 
the performance is as yet slight. Suffice it, 
therefore, to say that the affliction was gene¬ 
rally remarkably well borne. The passengers 
of the Azov had been forewarned, and seemed 
to have made up their minds to submit with 
equanimity. I would take this opportunity 
to give notice that, having been rocked in the 
cradle of the deep, I am prepared to sell out 
my stock in that article of furniture on ex¬ 
tremely moderate terms, the subscriptions 
having been (very) fully paid in, and no divi- , 
dends having as yet been drawn. 

The second nautical day terminates at noon 
on Tuesday. During that day we made 134 
miles, having had a light wind nearly abeam, 
and steering northeast. This put us 224 miles 
from Charleston bar—the “miles” referred to 
being nautical ones, a fraction longer than 
the statute measurement. On this day the 
captain and mate went vigorously to work re¬ 
ducing 


TIIE ISSUING OF FOOD AND WATER 


to a system. Messes were formed among the 
’t ween decks passengers, containing from ten 
to twenty-five persons each. Some man was 
appointed to draw cooked provisions for each 
of these messes, two meals a day being allowed, 
at about 11 A. M. and 4 P. M. These pro¬ 
visions were taken from the general store, and 
cooked in the galley. One of the emigrants 
assisted the ship’s cook each day, the African 
potentate engaged for that purpose having ab¬ 
sconded in Charleston. As soon as the food was 
cooked, the name of the head of each mess 


was called from a list, and he was given pre¬ 
pared food sufficient for his party, which it 
was his duty to divide equally. The food was 


generally not good. There was a supera¬ 
bundance of meal, flour and rice and a good 
quantity of meat, the latter being pork and 
salt beef. The flour, however, was coarse 
and black, and the meal seemed to give gene¬ 
ral dissatisfaction, being freely 7 stigmatized as 
“kiln-dried stuff, only fit for lmgs to cat.” 
J he rice, too, was broken and dirty, requir- 
ing much cleaning. The meat was enough 
to last when carefully doled out. All 
of it, except five barrels, belonged to 
the “six months’ stores,” intended by 
the emigrants for their support in 
Liberia until the first crop is made, but it was 
of necessity used on the voyage. Of this 























3 




matter I shall have move to say hereafter. 
The supply of molasses was so scant that it 
could only be issued occasionally as a treat. 

In the haste and confusion generally prevail¬ 
ing about the galley, the food was almost in¬ 
variably ill cooked, causing much complaint, 
and, doubtless, suffering, to persons whose 
stomachs, made delicate by sea-sickness, 
loathed the coarse and badly prepared food 
which might have been eaten with tolerable 
relish at another time under the inlluence 
of exercise and health. A significant 
remark was that made by one of j 

the emigrants : ‘ I Tite a piece of j 

that fat bacon, sir, and hung over the ship’s I 
j side for two days.” Each steerage passenger 
received about a full pint of cooked rice, corn 
and wheat bread, of each about as much as is 
contained in an ordinary baker’s loaf, and 
some two square inches of meat at each meal. 
There was therefore no danger of starvation. 

' The supply of coffee was small, rendering an 
extensive dilution necessary. Tea there was 
in plenty, but the emigrants were not gener¬ 
ally drinkers of that beverage. What are 
technically known as “medical comforts,” 
consisting of small quantities of good spirits 
and wines, sago, arrowroot, Ac., were entirely 
| absent. When stimulants were needed for 
j the sick, the slender private stores of the cap¬ 
tain or myself had to be called on. 

THE CABIN PASSENGERS, 

of course, fared differently. 1 hey had their 
meals in the fonvard saloon, having a com¬ 
fortable table, chairs, napkins, knives and 
forks, Ac., while those in the steerage had 
nothing of the sort. The fortunate ones in 
the cabin had also cabin boy and steward to 
wait on them. Of course the ration system 
did not apply to them, they partaking of their 
food at a general table, as at a hotel. ihe 
captain, the two mates and I took our meals 
in the after saloon, getting the same food that 
the cabin passengers had. Indeed, I think 
some of them used to watch us closely to 
make sure that we did not have the advan¬ 
tage of them either in quantity or quality of 
“grub.” Our salt beef was usually made 
into hash, (known among seafaring 
folk as “mystery,”) while our bacon 
was carefully boiled, cooled and 
sliced. We had also an occasional roast or 
broiled fowl, generally good biscuit or bread, 


butter, potatoes, codfish, mackerel, baked 
beans, curry, every now and then, and rice, 
with an invariable dessert of pies, pudding, oi 
hot cakes and syrup. We had two meals a day. 
Other advantages that the aristocracy of the 
Azov possessed were pickles, vinegar, a limit¬ 
ed supply of fresh water to wash in and a 
plenty to drink. There should have been a 
good supply of vinegar for everybody, for it 
would have rendered much of the food and 
the water greatly more palatable; but there 
was only a small cask aboard, and it was a 
* scarce luxury among the people in the steer¬ 
age. The latter were required to perform 
their ablutions in salt water, (when they did 
perform them,) and were allowed three 
quarts of the beverage per adult. From 
: ,i this was subtracted a sufficient quan¬ 
tity with which to make coffee and 
tea. Each adult received about a quart 
and a half a day. It was issued as early 
as possible in the morning. Capt. Holmes 
tried all imaginable ways to make the food 
“go” as well as possible, having it made into 
general stews, Ac. Now', I expect that most 
of us have seen the time when rice, meat, 
meal and other etceteras, well boiled together 
and seasoned, would have been relished; but 
these people took a curious antipathy to it, 
and would have none of. the mess. However 
bad the supplies may have been, it seems as 
if any sane person, out at sea with all the 
possibilities of a long voyage before him, 
j would refrain from wasting them. Yet I’ve 
! seen nearly enough bread, meat and rice 
which would have looked eatable enough to a 
starving man, thrown carelessly or angrily 
over the Azov's side, to feed all aboard of her 
for a week. 

On this second nautical day of the voyage, 

| Tuesday, the “good order” of the quarter 
deck was treated to that most cherished and 
relished of all things by good society every¬ 
where, a mild scandal involving matrimonial 
infelicity. Among the good society aforesaid 
was a light colored missionary of youthful 
aspect, who wore a meek expression of coun¬ 
tenance aud a tall hat. He had a wife of 
about his own age and color, aud from the 
first there were indications of war between 
them. On this evening he summoned her to 
attend with him a prayer meeting in the steer¬ 
age, and upon her declining, went below into 
the forward saloon, from whence, in a few 
moments, his voice came through the skylight 
in dismal groans and fervent prayers, to be 
delivered from the power of this “tormenting 
woman.” After this he rushed up, and 
I stamping wildly about the deck, speaking 
bitter words of His spouse, and fiercely clutch¬ 
ing his hair, like an Othello with the black 
partially washed off. This incident, of course, 
furnished material for much gossip and grave 

















« 

♦ 


4 


moralizing:, and was a perfect windfall in the 
way of a social event. I went down to 

THE PKAYEIi MEETING 

and wished, for the lirst time, that The News 
and Courier was a “picture” paper, that I 
was an artist, and that the scene could have 
been reproduced in all of its strange pictur¬ 
esqueness, even were the other two conditions 
fullilled. The long, low apartment, with its 
crowded bunks, was dimly lighted. About 
each of the three lamps, placed against the 
two hatches and the foot of the foremast, was 
clustered a group of men bending over tattered 
hymn books, and singing with full strength. 
From the semi-darkness around came voices 
of all varieties, joining in the camp meeting 
refrain, while the half dressed forms of men 
and women were dimly to be seen, leaning 
forward, listening and participating, the 
benches were crowded with others similarly en¬ 
gaged, and the children slept soundly through 
it all, bundled up in a wonderful diversity 
of ways in bed. The ladder and doors anil j 
windows of the main hatch-house were I 
crowded with other faces and forms, and at the i 
foot of the former stood the preacher. When 
the hymn was over all heads were generally 
bent in prayer, the devotions being Jed either 
by the minister or some prominent man in the 
congregation (for this is but a sample of 
scenes often repeated.) The preaching was 
launched into the darkness when the time 
came, most of the preacher’s audience being 
invisible to him. On almost allot these oc¬ 
casions 1 was fervently prayed for, one 
► brother revealing by a little extra plain 
language the probable inspiration of this 
portion, when lie said, in tones of passionate 
pleading, “Bless the Keporter. Oh, help him 
not to write any lies to Thy glory, and the 
advancement of Thy work.” Though the 
grammatical construction of this sentence 
rendered it somewhat dubious, it was easy to 
discern its meaning. 

The minister brought along in charge of 
the A. >1. E. congregation is a fair specimen 
ol his class. I think, from close observa¬ 
tion, that he is a man of really earnest piety, 
who does his best according to his lights. 
But the lights are so dim. He lacks entirely 
t he education and training which many colored 
ministers—especially in the cities—possess. 

He seems barely able to read and write, mis¬ 
pronouncing the simplest words, and pro¬ 
ducing painfully ludicrous effects at the most 
solemn moments. With crude, twisted and 
hall developed ideas and reasonings on sub¬ 
jects, he covered up and hopelessly confused 
what meaning he had, with a ilood of mis¬ 
applied, miscalled, and confounded words. 

lo the observer who thinks a moment there 
is something peculiarly saddening in this i 
l his man is a representative of those chosen 
expounders of the plan of salvation who 
taught, aim doubtless believed, in *76 that 
servants of God could only work and vote for 
Chambei lain, and that his political opponents 
constituted the world, the flesh and the devil. 


i Is not this most literally the leading of the 
blind by the blind V Heaven oniy knows 
| what diverse, tangled and mistaken ideas and 
theories these poor darkened minds do ex¬ 
tract from the shapeless mass of confused 
words, sentences and metaphors hurled upon 
them by their teachers. The negro’s in¬ 
tensely devotiohal nature is distracted and 
wanders until nearly every one acquires 
a separate belief and doctrine, some of them 
as horrible and gross as can be. It seems to 
me that the managers of the L. E. A. could do 
better than feed these unfortunate involun¬ 
tary prodigals on theological and doctrinal 
husks, which satisfy the natural craving for a 
leligion without strengthening the spiritual 
life which is to be the negro’s greatest incen¬ 
tive and aid to civilization. For a preacher 
who can teaeli his people sound, simple Chris¬ 
tianity, there is work to do among these emi¬ 
grants. While we are told that from the 
mouths of babes and sucklings shall proceed 
Wisdom, I don’t believe it was ever intended 
that those persons or their grown-up proto- 
types, should furnish a steadv intellectual 
diet for men and women. 

The third nautical day closed at IS o’clock 
on Wednesday, April 24. The Azov has made 
j rt°°d use of the line breeze of the preceding 
i twenty-four hours, and scored 314*knois, or 
nn es, thus bringing her total run to 438 
miles in the three days, and putting her on 
; he average required to make Monrovia m 
I tvventy-iive days—144 miles per diem. On 
1 this day the captain and mates raided on t he 

hrnn^hf U , b ? d e '; ury pieCe of bedding 
W ? ! d T k ami . spruad out in the sun 
and umd to be aired and ventilated. The 
| quarters were then ' 

THOROUGHLY CLEANED OUT, 

j the floors being scraped, and everything 
thrown open to admit fresh air. The «ie£ 

| turn of officers for the Azor really seems pnnu- 

ha?c a tLken n ?h 0110 SiUl ° r iU a hundr ed would 
l i th .• UnCeas,n S Pains to secure 

health and cleanliness that Capt. Holmes -ind 
ii.-> mates, Messrs. Horne and Thatcher iim 
One of the greatest obstacles that t^y i’ad , o 
contend against was the wonderful indifTei 
Oh “he suhieef % UlU Passengers themselves 

44 Ind n hlv 

tj-e means t J e t S “T ^S^JSSS. 
the passage, they were not rebellious 7»r ill- 

result" sohfly ^nd s"mply° n from Pe T ,d i t0 

ceptions. The Shaw and Beeves famW^f eX ' 
Georgia, Clement Irons of Charleston wVU 

which nc had paid, and went in the K i # w.,.. ltr 
to make room; William Adams from Lmmf, 

SHSrr 


* 






















5 


s 


never grumbling, and always looking at the II 
b st side. Early on the trip the steerage had 
begun to assume the appearance of the plan¬ 
tation quarters so familiar to all Southerners. 
Scraps of rags, bones, pieces of bread and 
“chunks” of rice lying about; dirt and grease 
about, the floors, and “piccaninnies” crawling 
about over it all; and the old man or woman 
sitting around, munching, smoking and “jaw¬ 
ing.” Against all of these things did the 
ollicers perpetually war. 

On the evening of the third day the mis¬ 
sionary and his wife fought on the quarter- j 
deck. The skirmish culminated in a running ! 
battle, lasting to their cabin door. Here the 
affair was stopped, good society gathering in 
a body on the field, where Mrs. Missionary 
gave in panting tones an account of the fray, 
while her spouse contemplated her visage 
with his head on one side, wearing a critical 
air, as if he rather thought that another 
thump on the left eyebrow and a touch of a 
scratch on the starboard side of the nose 
would lend the work an artistic tinish. The | 
pair were reconciled, however, and retired on 
their laurels. 

At noon on Thursday we had made 206 
miles, making the total for the four nautical 
days 611, giving a full average and something 
to spare. A number of craft were sighted, 
although none came near enough to speak. 
The eager outlook for marine monsters was 
rewarded by the sight of a whale blowing 
away olf to windward. He did not, however, | 
create half the excitement that a poor, tired i 
little land bird, which had probably been ; 
blown off shore, did. It alighted on the i 
spanker boom, and flew about the ship amid | 
many expressions of wonder and delight. 
The idea that it was a good omen sent espe¬ 
cially by Providence seemed to strike the ■ 
popular mind at once. The little creature ! 
was assiduously fed and petted, but disap- | 
peared during the evening. Probably not ' 
one of the passengers had ever read or 
heard of “Ye rime of ye Ancient Mari¬ 
ner,” but the mysterious taking off 
of the little visitor was received with 
as much genuine gloom probably as was dis¬ 
played by the companions of Mr. Coleridge’s 
hero. Always afterwards, whenever there 
was a prospect of anything like “dirty” 
weather, this matter was generally recurred 
to with solemn head-shakings, expressive of 
evil forebodings. My own theory is that the 
bird was taken for food to the “mariner’s 
hollow,” but which mariner’s hollow it is 
difficult to say, all the mariners appearing to 
me to be in a habitual state of hollowness, 
albeit well fed. The only Moses of the exo¬ 
dus, however, a huge black cat of the cap¬ 
tain’s bearing that coguomen, was generally 
suspected of the crime, getting into bad odor 
thereby, and being regarded as an emissary of 
the devil. 

During the day ending at noon on Friday, 
April 26th, we made 155 miles. Total dis¬ 
tance 799 miles northeast of Charleston, 79 
miles ahead of the required average. During 


most of this time there had been fresh 
breezes, and as we were steadily working 
northward, there had been no suffering from 
heat after the first two nights, which had 
been very unpleasantly close and hot in the 
steerage. Sea sickness still lasted, although 

A GENERAL RECOVEliY 

from that malady had begun. The weather 
had been generally fine and sunshiny, and the 
general health was good. It was announced, 
however, that two children were dangerously 
sick below. The decks and the tops of the 
different houses made splendid lounging 
places, and the emigrants, having begun to 
feel better, and being tired of looking at the 
water, usually lay about in a confusion by no 
means beautiful, most of the men sleeping on 
their backs the entire day. As recovery pro¬ 
gressed,the Exodites,like their exemplars of Is¬ 
rael, became more and more discontented with 
food, water and surroundings, and murmured 
especially when certain developments, which 
this narrative will hereafter develop, were 
made. I myself could not but confess a long 
ing for the flesh-pots of Egypt as embodied in 
the soft boiled eggs, buttered toast and beef¬ 
steak of the Pavilion, also remembering with 
regret that at that hostelry there was no ne¬ 
cessity for holding fast to your soup plate to 
prevent its drifting down to leeward, and be¬ 
coming a nameless and shapeless wreck 
against the butter dish. 

During Friday night the wind shifted to the 
east, and finally dead ahead, driving the Azor 
to the north. She, however, made 112 miles, 
bringing her total to 911, and keeping her 
still ahead of her average. The head winds 
continued all during Saturday, still driving 
her north, and occasioning many relapses to 
the sick, dashing bright hopes, and reducing 
victims to the depths of despair. There was 
one man, however, who was not reprostrated. 
That was the man who owned and operated 
the aceordeon. On Saturday evening he pro¬ 
duced the article and opened up. He was 
not particularly well acquainted with its 
manipulation, and his music was mostly of an 
experimental nature. He would grind along 
at random until some note was stumbled upon 
that bore the semblance of something he had 
heard before. Carefully learning how this 
was done, he would feel around until he 
found something to fit it, and so go on build¬ 
ing up a tune, a note, a bar and key at a time. 
Sometimes the foundation, or some other im¬ 
portant part, would be forgotten, and then 
the entire structure would tumble, with a 
wild squeak or a hollow groan, a diastrous 
and melancholy ruin. During Saturday night 
the force of the head wind increased, obliging 
the furling of all light sails, and keeping the 
vessel constantly careened, and still driving 
her north of her course. On Sunday morning 
THE FIRST DEATH 


occurred, being that of a four year old daugh 
ter of William Johnson. The child had been 
















6 


*• 


whole time. A few moments before its 
death, the minister was summoned, and it 
was baptized “Amelia Johnson.” Very soon 
after breath had left the little body, it was 
prepared for burial, and that saddest of all 
funerals, a funeral at sea, was arranged for. 
A plank seven feet long by two wide was laid 
across the end of a barrel, or e end projec¬ 
ting over the lee (port) gangway rail. A 
folded American Hag was knotted arouud this 
plank, and that much of the simple prepara¬ 
tion was complete. One by one and in knots 
the emigrants gathered about this suggestive 
object, until all were crowded around it, ob- 
serviug a profound silence, and watching with 
curious eyes for the completion of the, to 
them, novel ceremony. The cabin passengers 
gathered on the poop overlooking the 
scene, and the neighboring shrouds and rig¬ 
ging were tilled with other spectators. In a 
few minutes two sailors came up from the 
steerage, replacing their needles in their 
cases with a business-like air, and then two 
or three men stumbled up the ladder bearing 
the shapeless canvas bundle containing the 
corpse and the large stone wrapped with it at 
its feet. The body in this sea coflin was laid 
upon the plank and the flag spread over it, a 
sailor standing at, each side. One by one the 
men who stood about took off their hats, and 
the crowd clustered closer as the minister 
came forward and proceeded to read the 
Methodist burial services. At the words, “We 
commit this body to the deep,” the flag was 
lifted, the inside ends of the plank tilted up 
by the sailors, and the body slid off into the 
water, which boiled and surged against the 
vessel’s side, sinking immediately to its rest¬ 
ing place “till the sea gives up her dead.” 
Then the crowd slowly dispersed. 

THE SAME SCENE 

was repeated later in the same day, Shellevy 
Adams, an infant son of William Adams, 
dying that evening. He also was christened a 
lew minutes before his death, which was at¬ 
tributed to dysentery. Apropos of these 
deaths, I must speak of a matter that strikes 
me as being an outrage. In living the par¬ 
ticulars of the arrangement for the first voy¬ 
age of the A'zor, the managers of this Exodus 
distinctly stated that a physician from Wash¬ 
ington would accompany her, and that state¬ 
ment was published iu The Mews and 
Courier, 

no PHYSICIAN 

from Washington or anywhere eise could be 
found among her passengers. The law re¬ 
quires the presence of one aboard emigrant 
ships, and George Curtis was used to clear 
with. I am informed that the Rev. 13. F. 
Porter assured the Customhouse authorities 
that Curtis understood the practice of medi¬ 
cine, having studied it in his youth, lie 
knows about as much of medicine as a street, 
c,u mule. During the whole voyage he was 
prowling around ’tween decks with a small 
book called “the mariner’s medical guide” in 
one hand, and all sorts of compounds extract- 


| ed from the medicine chest in the other. 
Even the book was given him by the captain. 
I feel very confident that, he was unaequaintt d 
with the symptoms of the simplest diseases, 
and my idea is that lie went almost entirely 
by guess-work. When lie had formed some 
opinion as to what the disorder was, he would 
refer to the book, and treat it thereby. lie 
used continually to be consulting the captain 
as to what he should do. I was called in to 
one or two of these consultations, but my 
medical knowledge being acquired principally 
from a fence somewhere, and consisting of a 
vague idea that Tutt’s liver pills were good 
for something or another, I was subsequently, 
and wisely, ignored. This thing seems to me 
to have been either a deliberate crime, and a 
j very grave one, or equally criminal careless** 
j ness on the part of the managers of this 
! exodus. It is horrible to think of 

A BLUNDERING IGNORAMUS 
| like this man having charge of the health 
of some three hundred people, a large ma¬ 
jority of whom were women and children. It 
i is only Heaven’s mercy that there are not 
I even more deaths to record. Capt. Holmes, 
i while possessing considerably more knowledge 
of the simpler diseases than Curtis, of course 
could not be expected to be able to cope with 
anything of a complicated nature. So there 
we all were, entirely at the mercy of any 
pestilence that might arise. I am certain that 
the more intelligent of the passengers agreed 
with me in my estimate of this “Doctor’s” 
skill. I don’t think he was ever allowed to cx- 
! periment on any one in the cabin, and I know 
! that his practice (and it literally was practice) 
was a laughing stock on the quarter deck, 
where he was generally known as “calomel 
and jalap,” that being his favorite prescrip- 
j tion. He administered it to Johnson’s child, 
which died in convulsions. Its death was at- 
tiibuted to worms, although lie was in doubt 
as to whether it was that or eerebro spinal 
meningetis. Of Dr. Curtis, too, 1 shall have 
more to say hereafter. 

The log showed on Sunday at, noon that we 
had made .144 miles that day, making a total 
of 1,055, and leaving us siill ahead of the 
necessary average. In addition to the funeral 
services already mentioned, regular services 
were held twice on Sunday, being largely at¬ 
tended. On Monday, ^Sth, the log scored 
l^o miles, a total of 1,180. Still slightly 
! ahead of the average. On this day 

THE FIRST BIRTH 

j! took place, being that of a boy, (reported to 
I oe a line one,) to the wife of Ned Clark, a 
l| steerage passenger. Mother and child both 

I flourished from the first. We had by this 
i time been driven into .about, 39 north latitude, 

II bem £ about the latitude of Cape May. and 
| two degrees further north than the captain 

}| ba d intended going, he having proposed to 
run only as far up as Baltimore, latitude 37. 

I As soou as the head wind abated the vessel’s 
j course was changed, and she went into bel¬ 
li long southeast stretch. 




















On Tuesday, 29tli, we made two hundred 
and fourteen miles, gaining a trifle south, the 
wind having shifted somewhat, and making a 
total for the nine days of one thousand three 
hundred and ninety-four miles. We were 
still ahead of the required average, but lost 
considerably by being becalmed during Tues¬ 
day night, only making seventy-two miles to 
Wednesday at 12 o’clock. The sea during 
nearly all of Wednesday lay like a sheet, of 
flexible glass, only disturbed by a heavy but 
quiet swell, which rolled abeam, producing, 
as heavy swells generally do, a most unpleas¬ 
ant effect, keeping the vessel rocking vio¬ 
lently. During the evening, however, a 
brisk breeze came up, just forward of the 
quarter, and the Azor w T ent bowling along 
before it, running on her port side, keeping 
everybody and everything drifting to leeward, 
makiug the holding of one’s self in a bunk a 
process requiring considerable science, and 
adding to the difficulty of the problem how to 
stow six feet of anatomy comfortably in five 
feet eight inches of bunk, which I had been 
endeavoring to solve from the beginning. 
The wind continued to freshen until it became 


I! 




A LIGHT GALE, 

and the vessel tossed on the waves at a great 
rate. The royals, and stay, top gallant and 
upper topsails were taken in one by one, and 
the pumps were set to work. Wednesday 
was the regular *‘bed-airing” day, but the j 
sprav and wind obliged the hasty taking in of 
all such furniture. The emigrants had" great 
fun at first coaxing t heir unwary fellows to 
stand near the windward gangway, and get 
well “soused” by the water which now and 
then came dashing over the rails. Much 
diversion was also caused by the loss of seve¬ 
ral hats, which took to themselves wings and 
flew away, that being the only thing about 
them suggesting riches even in the most re¬ 
mote manner. (By the way, I believe nearly 
every man aboard the Azor lost head gear at 
some stage of the voyage, and a collector of 
curiosities in the way of ancient and dilapi¬ 
dated tiles might have reaped a rich harvest 
had he been in our wake.) Towards ! 

night, however, when the “vessel ca- I 
reened so much as to dip up j 

water through her Ice scuppers, and the wind , 
still freshened, many of the passengers be¬ 
came first anxious, then timind, and finally j 
thoroughly frightened. The doors of the j 
hatch houses were closed and everybody sent 
below. A driving rain had set in, and neither 
in the lowering sky above nor in the rushing 
water beneath was any comfort. 

1 took a walk through the steerage on Wed¬ 
nesday night and found everybody nervous 
and disposed to be sick. The nervousness and 
sickness both increased, and on Thursday 
morning they had become almost universal. 
We scored 213 miles to Thursdays at noon 
with what sail we carried, bringing the total 
run to 1,679 miles. Daylight brought some 
comfort, but the wind still Ldew freshly, with 
occasioual light squalls, which brought rain 


and kept everybody indoors. Thursday night 
the blow had reached its height, and there 
was 

GENERAL DARK FOREBODING 

and dismay. The minister organized a prayer 
meeting ’tween decks, and another scene was 
presented which beggars description. While 
the wind whistled and howled through the 
rigging, and the water surged against the 
sides, and waves now and then came down on 
the decks with a “swish-h-h,” the people sat 
in the dim light below, listening and shiver¬ 
ing. They evidently supposed that they were 
going through a great, storm, and asked many 
questions based on that belief, greatly to the 
amusement of the sailors. When service was 
begun, fear gave place to or combined with 
religious enthusiasm, and some persons in the 
congregation became perfectly frantic, rolling 
about the floor, shrieking, calling out hoarsely . 
that they were prepared for death, and pro¬ 
fessing their willingness to be taken at once, 
ejaculating over and over, “Jesus, come now ! 
come right now !” A few really displayed 
courage of a high order, for they were firmly 
persuaded that they were menaced by great 
danger. They took matters very coolly, say¬ 
ing that as they had to die sometime, they 
were willing to do it then if necessary. In 
the midst of the shouting, leaping, clapping 
and rolling, the Captain came down, and by a 
few words of quiet assurances stilled the ex¬ 
citement which seemed becoming wilder every 
moment. During the night a squall blew the 
jib from the bolt ropes, tearing it to tatters. 

On Friday morning the sun shone out 
genially, and everybody cheered up and qui¬ 
eted down. At noon the log shewed 216 
miles run—total, 1,895—still ahead of the 
average. The wind kept up briskly, though 
not too much so to allow the setting of all 
sail. Then there w'as a great comparing of 
experiences, thoughts and feelings during the 
blow of the previous two days. One man said 
that, what he feared "was that “the boat 
would turn over,” while another had appre¬ 
hended that if “she kept rocking so much 
she’d burst open.” Of course many funny 
things could be told of the sayings of 
the passengers, but such things lose 
their flavor Without, a reproduction of the 
negro dialect, and that has always seemed to 
me in bad taste. While on this subject think 
a minute. Suppose any of you had, inten¬ 
tionally or unintentionally, broken a man’s 
spine, wouldn’t it be a horrible thing to wince 
and laugh at the unfortunate cripple’s contor¬ 
tions and gestures? We white people are cer¬ 
tainly responsible in a great measure for the 
deprivation of the negro of his educational 
backbone, and, aside from the general broad 
rule that it is not a genteel thing to ridicule 
the misfortunes anil deformities of others, 
this mimicry of the darkey seems to come 
with especially bad grace from us. I know 
that this aside is a sort of cross between a sub- 
editorial and a Sunday-School story, but it’s 
true nevertheless. 












8 


The second Saturday out passed off without 
any particular incident. The fore deck was 
enlivened during the morning by a light be¬ 
tween the cook and an emigrant, during 
which the former doused the latter with hot. 
water. This was the second affair of the kind 
that the chef de cuisine had beeu engaged in, 
and both parties were severely reprimanded 
by the captain. Nobody was hurt. As usual, 
several craft were sighted at greater or Jess 
distances. It may be mentioned here, that 
throughout the voyage the Azov never failed 
to pass any craft steering in her course, thus 
demonstrating that her sailing capacities are 
at least considerably above the average. At 
o’clock on Saturday the log registered 
S00 miles. Total 2,095 in the thirteen days, 
an average of 1 f»1 miles and a fraction per 
diem. Sunday seemed to be 


A FATED DAY. 


Oil this third Sunday died Anna Maria 
(Sigler, an unmarried daughter of Boatswain 
Sigler, of Edgefield. She was another of 
George Curtis’s patients. He attributed her 
death to a cold caught while suffering from 
measles. The unfortunate woman had cer¬ 
tainly been imprudent, having gone on deck 
a few days before her death with what was 
apparently a case of measles on her. On the 
morning of her death she was administered 
coffee with an infusion of ginger, a Dover’s 
powder, and Friar’s Balsam. What before 
it. is hard to say. After her death, it. was as- 
cei tained that she had been confined only a 
day or two before coming aboard, and had 
exposed herself to the dangers and discom- 
Jorts of the embarkation while in that delicate 
condition. I his, with the meazles, probably 
formed a complication of disorders with 
which Curtis coped about as intelligently and 
effectively as I could have done. Of course 
there is no telling how far the three deaths 
aie attributable to his malpractice. I know 
that after this affair, Capt. Holmes put his 
7‘ fc \? , l any ^ UI ^ ler independent practice by 
this “physician,” and refused to allow him 
to dispense any more medicines except under 


, •/ - ---Uimci 

ns supervision. The News and Courier 


as always given this scheme a perfectly fair 
showing before the community. I hope 
therefore that the colored people will heed 
what is said now, and believe that it, is dictated 
by no prejudice, but by a knowledge of facts. 
1 resident B. F. Porter wilfully and 


George 


DELIBERATELY MISUEO THE COLLECTOR 

by assuring him he “knew” that, 

Curtis was capable of acting as ship’s physi¬ 
cian and he also wilfully and deliberately 
sent the d-or to sea with the health of her 
tlnee hundred passengers in the keeping of a 
man of whose competency he either knew 
nothing, or knew enough to doubt. The 

am V some of his assistants sent 
*1® J t,f) having reason to believe that 
she had measles aboard of her, and they 
assiduously sought to conceal, and did con- 
ceal, that matter from the Customhouse 


authorities. I have said nothing, and, in any 
charges or statements that I may make here¬ 
after, M ill say nothing, except what I can 
establish in a court of justice if need be. 

The dead woman was buried with the usual 
ceremonies on the day of her death, her young 
infant being taken charge of by its grand¬ 
parents. This Sunday was the first that the 
existence of 

MEASLES ABOARD 


was definitely known, although there had 
come rumors of it from the steerage on 
previous occasions. Indeed it had been sus¬ 
pected before we left Charleston, but the 
matter was promptly hushed up. The intelli¬ 
gence caused no panic, every one seemed to 
realize immediately that there was no escape, 
and to resign themselves to whatever might 
come. The log Sunday showed 13G miles, 
lotal 2,231. The weather was now beaut i¬ 
ful, and 

EVERYBODY WAS RECOVERING 


from sickness and despondency. The emi¬ 
grants became more cheerful and active as 
they felt better and had grown more accus¬ 
tomed to their new surroundings. Appetites 
also improved, and, arrangements for assisting 
the cook being perfected, the cooking be¬ 
came more tolerable, and the issue of rations 
better regulated. It, was now a source of 
pleasure and amusement to go to the galley 
and watch the distribution of food. ‘ The 
bread, if made of black flour, was now t ho¬ 
roughly cooked and sweet,, a little molasses 
was mixed with the corn bread rendering it 
quite a dessert, and every means Avas taken to 
gratify the varying tastes of those who re¬ 
spectively preferred “fat” or “lean,” and beef 
or pork. The mate, Mr. Horne, would sit at 
the galley door, and call out his list, the 
mess system being abolished, and each head 
ot a family would come up with a pan, plate 
oi bucket, and have his allotedportion rapidly 
served to him as it was passed out..' First 
Would come into the utensil a large portion of 
boiled rice, from the big iron pots; on top of 
that great, “hunks” of meat, as specified, and 
them the appropriate quantities of corn 
and wheat breads ami molasses cake, with 
occasionally a taste of molasses for everybody 
m a separate cup, and always a potfull of 
codec of varying strength. A perfect jewel 
of a mate this was too, with a pleasant word 
of badinage for everybody, producing many, 
broad grins and guffaws, and casting a cheery 
influence over the whole performance. There 
is no doubt that the almost uniform good 
humor which prevailed through all the dis¬ 
comfort, was largely due to the never failing 
pleasantry and inexhaustible good temper mil 
spirits of this officer. From this time cheer 
lulness was the prevailing order of things. 
-Aitei their meals were completed the emi¬ 
grants generally dispersed 


ABOUT TIIE DECKS 

in the sun. Probably one-half could read and 
about, a fourth write. These fortunate ones 




















9 


would lie about poring over bibles, learning ; 
hymns by heart, or studying over old geo¬ 
graphies, histories, newspapers or slates. 
Pleasant to relate, some would gather around 
them a few of their uneducated fellows and 
laboriously instruct them in the rudiments of 
the three “IPs.” Others would lie on their 
backs staring at the blue sky and white clouds, 
constructing nobody knows what grotesque 
castles in the air, doubtless, however, enjoy¬ 
ing the atmospheric architecture as intensely 
as those whose buildings, similarly erected, ; 
are more symetrical and fair to look upon. 
Then there were others who would gather 
about the rails, and alternately look out for 
sails, whales, Portuguese meu-of-war, bunches 
of sea weed, ilyiug fish, and the fragments of 
old wrecks which now' and then floated by, 
and indulge in repartee and jest, which, if not 
polished, were generally harmless and pro¬ 
vocative of much mirth. The women 
and children generally sat about gossip¬ 
ing, laughing and plaiting, combing and 
arranging each other’s hair. This last 
seemed to be a favorite amusement, and be¬ 
fore we reached the end of the voyage every 
head was decked with countless little pig-tails 
tied up with strings and drawn so tightly 
that it w r as a matter of wonder to me 
how the possessors managed to shut their 
eyes. The sick, too, generally revived under 
the improving influences, and matters looked 
decidedly better in every way. Good society 
on the quarter deck passed its time in very 
much the same way; even the one or tw r o 
chronic grumblers there having at last agreed 
to give the others “a rest.” The younger 
portion of good society usually gathered 
about the wheel in the evening and amused 
itself by singing Sunday-school and 
other hymns: “The ninety and nine,” “ ’Tis 
done,” “In the sweet bye and bye,” “Rescue 
the perishing,” Ac., the music sounding very 
sweetly when heard at a little distance. The 
log showed on Monday 61 miles, the bark 
having been becalmed nearly the entire 24 
hours. Total 2,21)2. 

About this time a Baptist congregation was 
! organized ’tween decks, the Methodists hav¬ 
ing previously had it all their own way. Robt. 
Williams seemed to take lead in this move- 
1 meut, and generally on one or two nights in 
the week he and his assistants used to be 
heard below exhorting, praying and singing. 
The Methodist leader took the pains to come ] 
and state to me that a discourse, delivered on 
the previous evening, was from one of the 
Baptists, and not any of his flock’s doings. 
He evidently thought that. I intended bur¬ 
lesquing the whole affair. That persons have 
burlesqued, and in a feeble way attempted to 
make “fun” of, the utterances of a man striv¬ 
ing to teach the Word of the Almighty is one 
of the shames of the Press, and shows what a 
false, vulgar and insane idea some of its con¬ 
tributors have in mistaking irreverence for 
! wit, and idiot ic imitations of well-meant words 
for humor. The remarks already made re¬ 
garding the Methodist leader will apply 
o 


equally to this other. A particularly loud 
and enthusiastic singing, a night or two after 
the formation of this congregation, was 
caused, I was told, by a woman present 
having professed conversion. I looked 
anxiously thereafter to see how the ordinance 
of immersion could be performed aboard a 
ship running at an average of six knots per 
hour, expecting to be furnished a choice 
“Fatal Accident” thereby, but it was post¬ 
poned. On Tuesday we made 145 miles. 
Total, 2,437. 

On Wednesday George Curtis distinguished 
himself in another rvk by having a violent 
altercation with his wife, during which she 
claimed that he struck her. The cabin boy 
with wide opened eyes summoned the captain 
with the announcement, “Dr. Curtis and his 
wife fighting,” and good society was stirred 
to its very depths. The wife had certainly, 
as far as I could see, conducted herself in the 
most exemplary manner, and I am inclined to 
think that the gorgeous fraud of a “Doctor” 
was in fault. I earnestly urged at that time, 
as a measure of public safety, that the Doctor 
be thrown overboard with a jar of calomel 
and jalap suspended from his neck. The cap¬ 
tain, however, contented himself with a repri¬ 
mand and caution. It seems unfortunate that 
the Missionary and the “Doctor” sent, out 
with this first expedition should each have 
seen fit to beat his wife. During Wednesday 
we made 172 miles. Total, 2,609. On Thurs¬ 
day the usual weekly sweeping, cleaning and 
airing was had. On this day, May 9t.h, and 
the eighteenth day out, while in north lati¬ 
tude 32 deg. 4 min., and lougitude 29 deg. 
28 min., 

A SUDDEN DEATII 

occurred. Charlotte Mason, aged 43 years, 
the wife of William Mason, of Abbeville, had 
just recovered from her sea sickness, ami had 
left her bunk for almost the first time. I’pon 
returning to it, she suddenly fell in a fainting 
fit, but was subsequently revived. In about 
half an hour, however, she began to sink 
rapidly, and soon passed into a state of insen¬ 
sibility, from which it was impossible to 
rouse her. The body retained its warmth for 
an hour or two after action of the heart had 
ceased, and hopes were entertained that death 
had not actually occurred, These were sub¬ 
sequently given up, however, and the body 
was lowered into the sea that evening with 
the usual ceremonies. Death was attributed 
to some affection of the heart. It seems a 
curious fate that this woman, who for forty- 
three years had passed Imr life in the quiet of 
the country, knowing no world beyond the 
precincts of the townslrip 4 or county, should 
find her grave beneath the waves of the At¬ 
lantic three thousand miles from anywhere 
previously within her ken. Her husband was 
generally sympathized with as he was a hard 
working and amiable man. lie acted as ar- 
sistant cook during all the latter portion of 
the voyage, and performed the duties very 
satisfactorily. On Thursday the log scored 


















10 


159 miles. Total 2,768, in eighteen days. 
Still ahead of the average necessary to make 
Monrovia in the time promised. On Friday, 
nineteenth day, we made 144 miles, the exact 
average. On this day 

T1IE FIFTH DEATH 


occurred, being that of Whitfield Smallwood, 
aged 23, the son of Jackson Smallwood, of 
Edgefield, S. C. His death was attributed to 
measles, that disease having become quite 
prevalent between decks. He also was buried 
with the usual ceremonies. 

Saturday, May 11th, was the twentieth day 
out, and the log showed 132 miles, the wind 
having been light and variable. It was the 
habit every day when the solar observation 
was taken at noon, to gather around and get 
the exact time of eight bells, or 12 o’clock. 
All who had watches had carefully set them 
by St. Michael’s clock before leaving Charles¬ 
ton, and kept them at that time, the object 
being to note the difference between the time 
of Charleston and Monrovia. As we pro¬ 
gressed eastward, we, of course, gained, and 
the change was watched with much interest. 
Indeed, these watches did seem a sort of con¬ 
necting link with the shore left behind. The 
owners would look at them when the ship’s 
clock, for instance, indicated 10 o’clock 
A. M., and say “its 7 o’clock in Charleston, 
and so and so’s doing so and so.” Then 
when the sun set, the time in Charleston 
would be noted with much curiosity. This 
was a sweet comfort. 1 could sit" on the 
Azov's quarter deck and think at certain 
hours of friends and familiars far away. 
When the bell tolled midnight, on Saturday 
night, I could think, “Now its 9 o’clock in 
Charleston, and two policemen are lugging 
Rachael Mazyck out of Elliott street to the 
Guardhouse to recover from her regular 
weekly drunk; the Orderly Sergeant has just 
given orders to put all the tramps together in 
cell 8, so as to make room for a pickpocket, 
two inebriates and an amateur pugilist, with 
a club slash across his bead; and there’ll be a 
gorgeous “Clubs and Stars” report for The 
News and Courier on Monday.” Such are 
the sweet reminiscences and delightful reve¬ 
ries of a newspaper man. The event of 
Sunday, May 12th, was the 


FORMATION OF A SUNDAY-SCHOOL, 
a young man named Moultrie taking charge 
as superintendent. Quite a number of the 
children attended, and were divided off into 
classes. A considerable number of tracts, 
papers, &c., were distributed among them. 
Services were also held by the two different 
denominations at different times during the 
day, the Baptists appearing rather to out¬ 
number their Methodist brethren. With a 
Strange persistency they one and all refused 
to heed suggestions that the services be had 
on deck, but seemed to prefer crowding down 
into the narrow, close and dark space below. 
Indeed, there were some who, I verily believe 
did not come on deck during the entire voy- 


| age, but lolled in their bunks all the time. 

| The log this day showed only 72 miles, the 
j Azov being on the verge of the trade winds, 

! and encountering the light winds generally 
j prevailing there. 

On Monday the log showed sixty-one miles, 
j Total in twenty-two days 3,177 miles, being 
just a fraction ahead of .the required average. 
All hands had by this time begun to look for¬ 
ward to the speedy termination of the jour¬ 
ney, and calculations were made that Mon- 
! rovia would be reached by Thursday. These 
bright hopes were dashed, however, by the 
j captain, who, in answer to eager inquiries, 
informed the passengers that the vessel bad 
j been driven so far, and kept so long, north¬ 
ward of her course by the almost continual 
| headwinds that she was still a full thousand 
j miles from “the haven where she would be,” 
and could not be reasonably expected to 
reach that point before Saturday. From this 
point 1 believe the passegers were 


COUNTING THE MINUTES. 




I 




t he longing for the sight of some green 
thing; for some break in the weary monotony 
of “sea and sky, sky and sea; the dreary sea 
and sky again;” for something solid on which 
fo rest the foot, seemed to be most intense. 
Some gratified this feeling in a simple way by 
posting themselves up in the bow, sitting 
there all day long, and straining their eyes 
before them to catch the first glimpse of thi 
shore. On Tuesday the Jog showed J2C 
miles. About noon, however, the wind came 
in briskly, almost abeam, and the bark re 
sponded well, skimming smoothly along witl 
all her sails well filled. The\lzor, by the 
way, is a remarkably easy runner, pitching 
very l ittle, and going through the waves wil l 
a motion that can only be described by the 
word “sliding:.” The weather was now be 
coming decidedly warm again, and the steer¬ 
age was unpleasantly close. While the pas 
sengers had “waked up” on some subjects 
their indifference on others was discouraging 
in the extreme. Some of them, as I saif 
before, would persist in lying arouuc 
below, anil keeping their children there 
thus making the atmosphere cont.in 
i.i a 11 y . close and disagreeable, instead 
of going on deck and allowing the an 
to be purified against the inevitable pollutioil 
or the night. The captain had disinfectant* 
and various substances of a fumigating na- 
tuie distributed about in the steerage quar¬ 
ters several times during each day and night, 
thus keeping the atmosphere what seemed to 
me to be barely endurable, but which many 
of the passengers seemed to find very eom- 
iortable. Not even the glorious tropical moon, 
which made us seem to be floating down an 
endless track of mellow, sparkling, liquid 
light , could tempt these people from the dark 
stilling quarters below. The very demon of 
perversity seemed to have taken possessien of 
them. 1 lien again, none of them seemed to 
nave the slightest desire for or appreciation of 
exercise. 1 hey* seemed to regard my walks 













11 


. on deck as caused either by a terrible restless U 
and uneasy conscience, or a mild form of lu- 
, nacy. They couldn’t understand it. 1 never 
? saw, of all that 300, a single one higher in the ; 

rigging than the foot of the ratlines, and only 
. one or two there, except one young man i 
: whose leg beecame entangled in a rope, cans- i 
. ing his elevation about twenty feet up the i 
■ foremast. Some lusty yelling proclaimed the j 
- situation of this unlucky emigrant, and he 
• was released, while his fellow passengers 
e fairly fell down and rolled over and over in 
e their spasms of laughter at the mishap. 1 in- 
, terviewed the emigrants quite generally on 


and disembowelled with bowie knives by 
Democrats just above the city, and 1 really 
think he had repeated the story so much that 
he had begun to believe it. By constant repe¬ 
tition of and additions to these tales of hor¬ 
ror they get to put implicit confidence in 
them, and such groundless fears have probably 
really something to do with this movement. 
It seems though that in the main various and 
widely differing opinions and views brought 
the emigrants to Charleston. Once there 
they were soon rallied under the general 
watchwords of “Political persecution” and 
“Social equality.” On this day (Tuesday) 


T1IE OBJECTS OF EMIGRATION 


TIIE SIXTH DEATH 


as soon as they were strong enough to under- 
! go the process. My conclusion is that there 
is no cause or reason which can be called 
i general. The grievances complained of aud 
' Die hopes entertained were almost invariably 
i a local or personal nature. Some were 
| te oiug because they thought they would have 
a better chance to “rise in the world” with a 
i generous aud cheaply procured soil and per- 
, 'ect social equality with their neighbors; 

, others were tired of “renting” or “working 
, out,” and wanted to be their own masters; 

others complained that the farmers were 
: | banding more and more firmly together to 
keep down the wages of the laborer; others 
j could give go good reason for going, falling 
back on the old talk of “JKu-Klux,” “Night 
Hawks” and “political persecutions.” Some 
issigned nearly all of these reasons, others 
j some, others one. One of the most 

intelligent of the Georgia emigrants said 
| that it was becoming such a general 
practice for farmers in that State to avail 
themselves of the homestead exemption laws, 
j that the laborer had no security for his 
earnings, aud, therefore, no inducement to 
work. ' To other persons with whom 
they talked, the emigrants ground the 
“Outrage mill” much more freely. One 
of them, while in Charleston, implored Capt. 
Holmes to give up a contemplated trip to 
Columbia, assuring him that if he went there 
the white men would find out who he was, 
and certainly murder him. I have often 
thought that these people tell such lies so fre¬ 
quently that they get to believe them them¬ 
selves, and this instance helps to confirm me 
in that belief. I have heard them tell what I 
knew to be most infamous falsehoods in a 
■ matter-of-fact, simple manner that would al¬ 
most convince a man against the evidence of 
his senses. I never wondered that Northern 
correspondents and visitors were deceived. 
The fact is, I think, the “Outrage” has taken 
the place of the gruesome “Spook” or 
“Big snake” story of the olden time, ear h 
darkey trying to raise his listener’s hair the 
highest with the most horrible story, and al¬ 
lowing his imagination to run away with him. 
During the campaign of 1876 1 heard an 

honest looking colored man in Columbia tell 

to a knot of listeners that he had seen about a 
week before live colored women tied to tiees 


, occurred, being that of Stephen Johnson of 
Ninety-Six, aged 64 years. He died quite 
suddenly in the evening, a few- moments after 
having eaten dinner and declared himself 
better. He, too, had been ailing ever since 
coming aboard. His death was attributed to 
congestion of the lungs, as he had been suf¬ 
fering from cold and hoarseness. There was, 
thanks to the managers, no one on board ca¬ 
pable of deciding wtiat the old man’s death 
really was caused by. He was buried about 
dark with the usual ceremonies. There had 
been developed by this time a large number 
of cases of sore throat, pain in the lungs, &e., 
which seemed almost an epidemic. The cap¬ 
tain was unremitting in his attentions to the 
sick, going regularly through the steerage 
several times every day and night, and 
prescribing, as far as he safely could. 
George Curtis had about relinquished 
the practice of medicine. His last exploit 
was a somewhat peculiar one. Ambling 
around the deck one day, as usual, with both 
hands full of villanous compounds, he met a 
1 steerage passenger’s wife who was coining on 
deck for the first time after a long spell of sea 
I sickness. He promptly administered to her a 
dose of something, subsequently tersely de¬ 
scribed as “d--d pison,” which speedily 

made her terribly sick again. He stumbled 
around for awhile and then ambled back, 
coolly announcing that he had given the 
woman a dose intended for somebody else. 
Whatever it was, it kept the victim sick for 
several days with nausea and pain, “loosening 
1 her teeth” and making her mouth sore. 

On Wednesday we made 220 miles. This 
was the twenty-fourth day out. Sickness was 
i rather on the increase, the sore throats and 
slight fevers becoming apparently more of an 
epidemic. The captain continued night-and 
day to attend the wants of the sick, which 
were as numerous and varied as they well 
could be. These emigrants are certainly the 
most extraordinary people ! It was the gene¬ 
ral habit to send the sick soups, puddings, 
&c., from our table. This day, as a great 
treat, we had soup made of canned fresh 
meat, which we enjoyed hugely. A portion 
being sent into the steerage it was rejected 
scornfully, with the remark that they “conkin' 1 1 
eat that stuff.” 

•li Thursday was the 25th day out, and the 

















12 


one on which we had hoped to have con¬ 
cluded our journey. The log showed 213 
miles, a total run of 3,735 miles, and an 
average of 149 10-25 miles per day, with sev¬ 
eral calms and almost constantly unfavorable 
winds. Had it not been for that unfortunate 
three days of southwesterly gales, the Azov 
would have made Monrovia in the time 
promised. On Friday the wind was somewhat 
slack, but we made 190 miles. That evening 
the Cape Verde light was sighted, about ten 
miles distant, and the bow was pointed out a 
little for the rpn down the coast. The light 
was the lirst indication of land seen since the 
departure from Charleston, and it infused 
new cheerfulness iuto everybody. On Satur¬ 
day 

THE SEVENTH BEATII 


Phew-w-w ! how hot it was that Sunday! 
1 here was heat everywhere; heat, scorching, 
burning heat, in the sun’s rays; heat in the mir¬ 


ror-like, flashing expanse of water; heat rising 


occurred, being that of Pressley Hood, aged 
19, son of Alfred Hood, of Mecklenburg 
County, N. C. lie died at 3 o’clock in the 
morning, and was buried at 8. He had 
fever of some sort, but its exact nature 
could not be defined, there being, as before 
stated, no one on board possessing any 
medical skill worth speaking of. On this 
diiy the sailors were removed into a tent 
erected on the roof of the forecastle, and the 
forecastle was converted into a hospital, in 
which all the sick were placed. A large tent 
was erected on the poop, in which two or 
three families of the steerage passengers 
were moved, they being thereby made greatly 
more comfortable, and more room being 
obtained below. Awnings were also spread 
over the fore and quarter decks, affording 
shelter from the sun, which was becoming 
very hot. Under these awnings the passen¬ 
gers were generally gathered, although a few' 
would still persist in remaining below. On 
Saturday we made 101 miles. During the 
night occurred ‘ 


/ ' o '- w u u i ionic 

m quivering clouds from the decks; heat glared 
from the white sails which flapped to and fro 
like the wings of some great bird, too utterly 
prostrated with heat to move; heat, heat 
heat, expressed in every object in the great 
oven on the bottom of which we rested, and 
the arched cover of which seemed to shut out 
every breath of air, and slowly to be roasting 
us. It was a day compared with 
which the memorable 28th of June, 
187G, in Charleston was cool and refresh¬ 
ing. We slowly drifted and rocked, and 
rapidly perspired all through it, while tan¬ 
talizing visions of rolling on long grass be¬ 
neath green trees among breezy Virginia 
hills; of Ashing lazily in clear, placid streams 
under drooping willow trees; of the drinking 
of iced lemonades and cobblers behind cool 
Venetian blinds; of the eating of cold water- 1 
melons in shady back piazzas; of all the de¬ 
lightfully cool and refreshing things ever 
done or thought of, would intrude themselves 
and add to the torments. On that dav every¬ 
body joined with languid ardor in singing 


tnat part of the hymn about Greenland’s lev 

IVI i'll 1 111 o i n c Itiit i i... ..i j i 


«f * . J v*i CtllltUlU S icv 

Mountains, but the most enthusiastic mission¬ 
ary turned with disgust from the considera- 


T1IE E.GI1TU HEATH, 


being that of Mattie Tyler, aged 30 months, 
daughter of Howell Tyler of Barnwell County, 
South Carolina. Her disease was attributed 
to the measles, being probably another illus- 
tiation of the beauties of the economical 
policy of the managers of the L. E. A. J. 8. 
S. 3. Co. Another instance of this same thing 
was furnished by the food provided for the 
cabin which by this time had settled down to 
a nismess basis. The bill of fare was about 
like this; 

Breakfast. 

Baked beans. Codfish, 

Meal cakes, Bread, 

Hash. 

Dinner. 

Bean soup, Codfish, 

Boiled beans, Riee cakes, 

Cold beans, Boiled rice. 

Rice pudding, Hash. 


tion of Afrie’s sunny fountains or India’s 
<ola stiands, with their horrible suggest ive- 
ness of hot weather, and seemed resigned to 
allow the heathen of those countries to bow 

I oHl t H WOOd a,1<1 sto ” e 51,1 th,J y wanted to 
dining the summer. Between decks it was 
terribly hot, but still some of the emigrants 
would remain there ! ° s 

1 he Sunday-school did not flourish as had 
be e „ for. Even in tl.o narrow panels 

Of the steerage denominational intolerance 
manifested itself. The Baptists, who were 
^ he ,lla .i' i >rit y» refused to allow their 


children to attend a &h£l Sightby Metlm- 
d sts. Clement Irons, who showed through- 

°rZhZr Ch J 00d sen8e > conscience and gene¬ 
ral zeal as the rest of the boat-load put to- 

good e meeUng ed f ed in ° r p inizin £ one tolerably 
KnT t k i° r rell £ ,ous exercises in the 
evening. 1 had expected to find the Doris 


passengerswiored Pilgrim Fathers, straight- 
aced pious and continually at prayer Bui 

swearing a^inlh reallzed - >"« « **>“us 
sweating as, in the course of a long and va h<*,i 

foTTcks Hr CVCI ' beua - on.'he 
oie decks by emigrants, and the 


I think 1 ate a billion of beans during the 
Xr much aftor^beans 

wasburM U ' ,,iay ra ° rni "» Child 


fflLT'VT w »^7‘»o’m'Sie» universally 
attended. 1 do not mean to say that the si* 

emigrants were worse than other emigrants 
/n the conttrary the proportion of people trv* 
ng to be religious (which is about all that, the 

0^' U B„ ea T t ) : S ," r0bah, - V " lu - h '4enhau 

iiw. i i Ut J merel y mention as a fact that 
modl 2 Chris P S UgCr,B W6te by "° .ocans all 

have written upt.be 

form ' let* ll ' m vo y a iP‘, so lar, in narrative 
toim. Intelligence received this 


morning, 

























13 


"however, casts a general shadow of doubt j 
over the termination of the present picnic, 
and I shall therefore unfold the remainder of 
the tale in journal form. This day affairs 
assume a serious phase. The captain informs 
me that ship fever is certainly aboard. Though 
in a mild form, so far, it is liable to break out 
into the virulent one at any time. One of its 
unpleasant characteristics is, that it removes 
its victim on short notice, and gives him little 
time to complete unfinished letters in. We 
are a good four days from Monrovia, partially 
becalmed, beneath a tropical sun, living on 
salt meat, beans and rice, provisions are get¬ 
ting bad, anu ship fever and measles are 
spreading. All of which is pleasant. This 
morning we buried two persons who died 
during the night, making a total, thus far, of 

TEN DEATHS. 

They were Grant Williams, aged 3 years, 
son of Bram Williams, of Burke County, Ga., 
and Simpson Matthewes, aged 16 months, 
son of Matthieson Matthewes, of Edgefield 
County, S. C. Both of these deaths are attri¬ 
buted to the fever. The measles has reached 
tlie cabin, one of ex-Senator Gaillard’s chil¬ 
dren being down with it. On Sunday we 
made 112 and to this morning 78 miles. 
While conversing with the missionary sent 
out to teach the heathen, to-day, he informed 
me as a fact, that I could remove an eruption 
from my hand by binding on it a piece of 
black bacon skin, provided 1 stole the remedy 
and kept the fact of its possession and use a 
profound secret. 

J do not wish to be understood as “running 
down” these people or their project. 1 will 
say now', what 1 had intended leaving for 
the summing up, for fear of an accident. 
The emigrants have generally behaved them¬ 
selves excellently. They have uniformly 
easily been managed, obedient and accommo- ! 
dating. They have complained much, it is ; 
true, but when it is considered that they were , 
suddenly brought into unaccustomed sur- j 
roundings, with manifold discomforts insuffi¬ 
cient, poor and generally novel food, and 
with no physician, this can not be wondered 
at. They have showed themselves as helpless 
as babes, but it must be remembered that 
landsmen are generally so at sea. The only 
real trouble has been their indifference to their 
own comfort and cleanliness, which pro¬ 
ceeded probably from a lack of appreciation 
of the importance of those matters. While 
all are lamentably, some grossly, ignorant, 
that is hardly their own fault. Altogether, 
despite the many reprehensible characteristics 
displayed by some, I have been favorably im¬ 
pressed with the mass of these emigrants, j 
Most of them will make good citizens; some j 
will be invaluable acquisitions to the new 
country. I don’t think there is a really bad 
or viciously disposed person among their 
number. I cannot, however, find terms 
strong enough in which to denounce the con¬ 
duct of the managers of the expedition, in ; 
deliberately sending the Azov to sea without a il 


competent physician. It was a crime against 
the Almighty, statute laws and humanity. 
The deaths of a large proportion of the de¬ 
ceased emigrants lie directly at their door. 
The stain of innocent blood is as deep on their 
hands as, on Cain’s. If I should never write an¬ 
other line, my last earnest advice to the colored 
people interested in this movement would be 
to rigidly investigate this matter, and cast out 
every man, participant in or cognizant of, this 
great iniquity. 

May 21.—We are nearly becalmed, having 
made but 70 miles during the past 24 hours. 
In the middle of the night a great routing of 
seamen from bed, pulling and hauling at ropes, 
and stumbling of sailors over sleeping em¬ 
igrants, the latter being accompanied by much 
profane language, roused everybody. The 
turmoil was caused by the approach of a squall, 
of which, however, we got only the tail end. 

The sick are generally progressing tolerably 
well, no deaths having occurred to-day. Good 
society has been engaged in delightful but un¬ 
successful angling for fresh shark meat. Hot? 
Don’t mention the word ! 

Another development of George Curtis’s 
medical skill was made to-day. lie has been 
bathing the sore eyes of a passenger’s child 
with warm salt water, reducing the little Buf¬ 
fer’s optics to a distressing condition. Prac¬ 
tice suspended. 

May 22.—Becalmed. We have made t wen¬ 
ty-one miles during the past twenty-four 
hours. Distance from Monrovia computed to 
be 379 miles. So near, and yet so far. The 
fever spread no more, but two sick men in 
the forecastle are expected to die. The 
water is beginning to run short, and half 
rations are being issued all around. Fear¬ 
fully hot! The emigrants seem generally 
comparatively happy and contented. They 
absolutely take no thought whatever for the 
morrow'. The Methodists and Baptists are 
holding enthusiastic meetings on alternate 
nights in the bow'. 

Beans ! beans ! beans ! at every meal beans. 
In my dreams I am pursued by the genius 
of Famine over endless deserts of baked 
beans, with an occasional “chunk” of salt 
pork by way of an oasis. If 1 ever get back 
to Charleston, I’ll go voluntarily before a full 
court of judicial aud ministerial trial justices 
and make solemn affidavit never to eat a bean 
again. Beans ! faugh ! Beans will ever here¬ 
after he associated in my mind with col¬ 
ored emigrants, and I’d as lief eat one 
as the other. Then, besides the beans, 
there are the babies. Every emigrant has one 
of the latter. They squall and yell by de¬ 
tachments from the rising of the sun to the 
going down of the same, and when the even¬ 
ing shades prevail the night squad comes on 
duty. My friend Horne (that’s the mate) de¬ 
poses and says that when the inuocents run 
down for a season, their parents, without 
provocation, wind them up again with a strap, 
(with which every parent aboard, foreseeing 
the scarcity of peach switches, has provided 







14 


him -or lierself.) Oh, shades of good Kings 
Herod and Pharaoh ! 

May 23d. lathe language of Old Jack, it’s 
“wusserand wusser.” We have only made 
twelve miles during the past twenty-four 
hours, and the sea is a sea of molten, scorch¬ 
ing blue glass. Early this morning, within a 
few minutes of each other, occurred 

TWO MORE DEATHS, 

being those of Stanford Smallwood, aged 
eight years, son of Jack Smallwood of Edge- 
held County, S. C., and Samuel Hadley of 
Burke County, Ga., aged sixty-four years. 
The poor creatures were given the usual hasty 
sea burial and scanty ceremonial, in place of 
the peace and plenty and halcyon days on 
sunny shores for which they were journeying, 
respectively, to pass in comfortable tranquilli¬ 
ty the remaining years of an old life, and in 
bright prosperity the many promised ones of 
youth. Smallwood’s death was attributed t,o 
measles, and Hadley’s to the fever. The 
people are very hard to manage in sickness. 
Just as they are with iutiuite trouble being 
brought around, they gorge themselves with 
fat pork, and down they go again. It is a 
subject for wonder that we haven’t more 
sickness. Very few of the steerage passen¬ 
gers have changed their clothing, and many 
have not even washed their hands and faces, 
since leaving Charleston. They watch the 
mate, the captain and I, taking salt water 
shower-baths, with awe, and avow that they 
are afraid of it. Not one of them has imitated 
us. Two more men are expected to die. 

May 24.—A ray of comfort came last night 
in the shape of a light aud shifting breeze, in 
w.jich we managed to scutile 03 miles. We 
are 310 miles from Monrovia at noon to-day. 

TWO MORE DEATHS 

this morning, making a total of fourteen so 
far. They were Bennille Clarke, aged 15 
mouths, daughter of Ned Clarke, of Claren¬ 
don County, S. C., and Laura Williams, aged 
22 years, wife of Brian Williams, of Burke 
County, Ga. The death of the former was 
attributed to convulsions, and that of the 
latter to the fever. Several more deaths are 
expected. The captain is barely able to get 
about, -being completely knocked up with 
fatigue and anxiety. Still very hot. We have 
probably gotten into the current setting 
along this coast, which will help us some. 

Vesterday the people drank their half ra¬ 
tions of water all at once, and there was much 
sutiering in consequence. In some instances 
one portion of a family would rob the others 
of what of the fluid was reserved. To-day j 
they seem to have learned more prudence. It | 
is a curious fact that our efforts to catch fish 
irom the stern are defeated by the scraps and 
other food continually being thrown over- 
boaid. VV e can see the fish turn contemptu¬ 
ously from our bait, and snap up these drift¬ 
ing provisions. Everybody in the steerage 
seems to have a cold, and the coughing is eon-' 
tinuous. The emigrants have become so used 


to seeing funerals that they fail to attend 
them, and the putting of a body overboard 
seems to create no excitement whatever. 

May 25.—The prospect to-day is gloomy 
enough. With all sails set we have only made 
seven miles during the past twenty-four hours; 
the wide circle of sea surface is smooth, ex¬ 
cept when now and then a wide irregular 
swell heaves restlessly up as if the water were 
panting under the heat which beats down 
fiercely from the blazing sun hung in a cloud¬ 
less sky; the Azor rocks sleepily, her head 
swinging aimlessly about, and her sails flap¬ 
ping lazily against the yards. The passengers 
huddle about, crouching under the awnings, 
conversing occasionally in subdued tones, 
perfectly idle and listless; the vessel is becom¬ 
ing overrun with vermin, and the smell about 
the steerage is fearful. This morning we 
buried 


THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CORPSES, 


being those of persons who died during the 
night. They were Matilda Williams, aged 
20, wife of Simon Williams, of Burke County, 
Ga., and Mary Ella Robinson, aged 14 
months, daughter of Fred. Robinson, of 
Edgefield County, S. C. The death of the 
former is attributed to the fever, and that of 
the latter to measles. All amusement is 
denied. Yesterday I shot a sea gull and one 
or two bonitas, aud this morning the oldest 
emigrant aboard came, cap in hand, on the 
quarter deck, and woke me from my ham¬ 
mock with the petition that I would shoot 
no more, as he felt convinced that it would 
bring us bad luck. The mortal remains of 
the slaughtered gull had, lie said, been 
floating about the bark all night. Two 

mare-maids” had also been seen to go by. 
“Ancient colored individual, said I, 

“Where we lay 

Were there ‘lamentings heard i’ the ail: strange 
screams of death; 

And prophesying, with accents terrible, 

Of dire combustions, and confused events 
New hatched to the woeful time!’ Did the 
‘Obscure bird clamor the livelong night?’ ” 


axe siuu i.uai 


Lil C l ) ■■ **ij\.* j ui iiiiui mui *■ 

a veiled that an ancient dame, full well repu¬ 
ted for veracity, had seen a spectre dire backed 
like a shark, but very like a horse (probably 
having some connection with the mare maid) 
about the ship, which she supposed to be the 
disembodied and distorted spirit of the gull. 
1 his is an actual occurrence, and bears out 
what was said somewhere in the misty past of 
letter about the negro’s “ghost” and 
vu-KIux factories. r i he latter is not avail¬ 
able lieie, and they return to the former re¬ 
peating these horrible tales to each other.’ 

1 find on the sheets of my “copy” 
strange thumb marks, which lead me to be¬ 
lieve that somebody is surreptitiously engaged 


in reading this communication. I sympa- 
t n/.e heartily with whoever it is, as I’ve had 
that job to do myself. 

May 2(1—Last evening, just before dusk, 
black clouds began to pile up above the west- 











15 


ern horizon. Before Ion”: the glassy surface 
of the sea was rippling into wavelets, and just 
as darkness was coming on a welcome and 
hoily and soul refreshing gust of wind came 
.mm the west, being immediately followed 
by a steady breeze, which filled the hanging 
sails, and awoke the vessel from her lethargy 
and seut her gliding along “like a thing of 
life,” leaving behind her in the phosphorescent 
water a long, shining trail extending into the 
night. The clouds promised rain, and arrange¬ 
ments were made to secure as much water 
as possible. Everybody seemed to be taking 
in great draughts of the fresh air, which went 
rushing down through the wind sails and 
doors, scattering the close and fetid atmos- ! 
phere 'tween decks, and filling every place 
with the very elixir of life. Cheerfulness and 
activity replaced the .apathy and languor en¬ 
gendered by the week’s calm, and in a few 
minutes all hands had gathered about the 
decks, and the joyful noise of old-fashioned j 
hymns and choruses was heard from a hun- ! 
dred voices. The breeze held until about 3 ; 
o’clock this morning, .when it suddenly 
changed to the east, fillihg the sails the wrong 
way, (“taking her aback.”) The helm was 
immediately put hard down, the vessel 
brought before the wind, and all hands put to 
work clewing up everything. Xu the twink¬ 
ling of an eye, amid the bellowing and crash¬ 
ing of thunder, the howling of wind, and the 
flashing of lightning, which followed each 
other very rapidly, 

THE TORN\DO 

broke upon us in all its grandeur. The ex- I 
citement and exhilaration of the next few 
minutes amply compensated for the weary 
days of calm and discomfort. The wind 
roared, shrieked and whistled through the 
rigging, the thunder discharged itself in peal 
after peal, the sails beat with dull monoto¬ 
nous thuds or cracked like a thousand whip 
lashes, the rain pelted and rattled, and the 
cries of sailors and orders of officers could be 
heard faintly as the wind swept them away. 
The continuous vivid flashes of lightning 
brought out all the surroundings in momen¬ 
tary tableaux—the dark figure of a sailor far 
up in the rigging would be brought into 
startling relief—the captain at the helm stand¬ 
ing out in a flash and swallowed up by the 
darkness—a group of sailors in the attitude of 
running or hauling at a rope, disappearing be¬ 
fore the motion or gesture could be completed 
—a knot of passengers crouching under some 
shelter, with anxious, startled faces. All of 
these things would come and go with almost 
inconceivable rapidity, leaving themselves ; 
photographed on the mind with their back- ; 
ground of intense, sudden light and sur¬ 
rounding of dense darkness. What added to j 
the weirdness of the effect was that the storm 
iiad come so suddenly that there was no sea, 
and the Azov, amid all the crash and confusion 
above, ran as noiselessly through the water as jj 
if she were a phantom ship, the spectral 
effect being heightened by the balls of pale 


electric light which lodged on the end of each 
yardarm, and on the top of each mast, (a phe¬ 
nomenon very common in these regions.) The 
two outer jibs went as an attempt was being 
made to haul them in, a rope parting. A large 
piece of one of the sails (now become literally 
a “flying” jib) went flying away. This sight 
being witnessed by one or two of the steerage 
passengers who had come on deck, they 
rushed rushed down stairs and gave the alarm 
to their comrades, who awakened by the un¬ 
roar, were gathered there in the darkness, 
that the sailors had lost control of the vessel, 
that the sails were all going to pieces, and 
i fbat. inevitable destruction awaited the entire 
party. Then to the other noises were added 
! those of praying and wailiug and shouting. 

I The sailors, however, with wonderful self- 
denial, calmed the excitement, and that much 
of the trouble was done away with. In a few 
, minutes everything was snug, and the Azor 
; was running by the wind under bare poles. 

1 The sail arranged to catch the water had been 
I torn loose and was lodged up in the rigging, 
and no entreaties or commands could get the 
| passengers to go out and catch the gallons of 
: the precious fluid pouring from the roof 
of the poop. So we got no more than two 
or three bucketsful. This may partly be ac¬ 
counted for by the experience of one of them. 
In the beginning of the storm, after catchicg 
a large bucketful on the quarter deck, I dis¬ 
covered that it was still slightly brackish and 
threw it out in the companion way. As 1 did 
so I heard a faint “whoo,” like the catching 
of breath after a sudden submersion, and 
caught a second’s glimpse of a dark figure. A 
few minutes afterwards I found a thoroughly 
saturated emigrant iti the steerage telling 
how, just as lie was going on the quarter 
deck, the rain struck him in a sheet, “like 
’twas poured out of a bucket.” Put this and 
that together. 

The wind really did “ blow great guns,” 
while it lasted, which was about three quarters 
of an hour, it being a genuine tornado. So 
quickly was the ship handled, however, that 
she lost nothing except the two jibs. When 
the violence of the gale had abated, it. gave 
place to a steady breeze, which allowed the 
setting of all sail except the royals, the 
weather being I,oo unsettled t.o allow their use. 
We made 68 miles by dead reckoning to noon 
to-day, putting us within 245 miles of Mon¬ 
rovia. 

TWO DEATIIS AND A BIRTH 

marked to-day. The former were those of 
Mitchell Williams, aged 52' of Burke County, 
Ga., who died of the fever, and Cicero Daniel, 
aged 15 months, son of Scott Daniel, of Barn¬ 
well County, S. C., who died of diarrhoea. 
This brings the total number of deaths to 18. 
The birth, the second one on this voyage, was 
that of a son to the wife of Aleck Clark, of 
Clarendon County, S. C. 

May 27.—A succession of light tantalizing 
breezes and dead calms has lasted twenty-four 
hours, during which we have gained but two 












16 


miles, being sailing across the current which 
drifts us to the north and west. We have 
only water to last for ten days on half allow¬ 
ance; the fever is likely to break out violently 
at any time, and there is an epidemic of sore 
throats and colds, somewhat resembling dip- 
theria, which nobody aboard understands or 
can cope with. Fresh provisions all gone, 
and others becoming bad. This unprecedent¬ 
ed calm may last a month; and the current is 
steadily losing us ground (or water;) a cheer¬ 
ful outlook. To-day’s event was the catching 
of a shark, which was cooked and generously 
divided out as far as it w'ould go. 

Later .—The captain has decided to 

PUT INTO SIEKKA LEONE, 
which is only 57 miles from us now, for water, 
fresh provisions and medical attendance. The 
announcement gives general satisfaction, and 
the people are gathered on the bow singing 
joyfully. This seems a most wise measure, 
for it would be running a fearful risk to pass 
the port and take the chance of being be¬ 
calmed without water and a pestilence raging. 

May 28.—This morning 

TIIE NINETEENTH DEATH 

occurred, being that of an infant son of Scott j 

Bailey, of-, aged fifteen months. Death 

is attributed to the fever. It seems as if we ! 
were getting in just in time. Two more per¬ 
sons sickened with the fever this morning. 
The hills about Sierra Leone came in sight at i 
9 o’clock, and now at 2 P. M. they are plain¬ 
ly to be seen \yith the naked eye. Everybody 
is singing, dancing and shouting, and people 
are constantly running to my cabin window 
or door, announcing that they can see houses 
and trees. Some seem almost wild with 
joyous excitement at seeing something be- | 
sides sky and water. At 4 o’clock the town 
(Freetown) was in plain sight dead ahead. 

The land, as seen from shipboard, consisted 
of a long, irregular range of hills, backed up i 
by other and higher irregular hills. On one 
side, to the northeast, or on the leftside going 
in, the range terminates in a steep incline, i 
from which the coast runs low and flat, as far 
as the eye can reach. On the right, away off, 
there is a break in the hill chain, after which i 
there are several abrupt hills (what in East I 
Tennessee they call “knobs,”) which appa- j 
rently decrease in height as they run to the 
southwest. This is the general outline of the 
horizon. The town proper is apparently clus¬ 
tered in picturesque confusion on the side of j 
the last hill to the left, just in the bend which | 
the cape forms at its junction with the main¬ 
land. 

As we slowly sailed in a British mail I 
steamer was made out following us. The ! 
shore became more and more distinct as we I 
approached, until we could plainly see 
the white lighthouse situate on the cape, ' 
built close to the water’s edge and sur- { 
rounded by deep green foliage. The hills ! 
looked like any Other hills, with patches of | 
red clay peeping out here and there, through I 


the trees and grass, with the little water 
courses, or gullies, furrowing thsir face. Their 
appearance was very familiar to eyes accus¬ 
tomed to Southwestern and Northern 
landscapes. Many of the trees, however, 
were palms and cocoas, and all the 
others were strange to us. Several fish¬ 
ing boats, precisely similar in build, rigging 
and crew, to those plying in Charleston har¬ 
bor, sailed out past “us, one or two coming 
quite close. Those aboard of them must have 
surmised that the Azov contained the inmates 
of a lunatic asylum out for an airing, from t he 
scrambling, rushing, shouting and vociferous 
iaughing of the passengers, as well as from 
the variety of aprons, skirts, hats, rags and 
handkerchiefs waved at them. We couldn’t 
make out much of the town, as it was covered 
by the trees, which seemed planted in great 
profusion all through it. 

At about half-past 4 o’clock an ordinary 
ship’s boat v as seen pulling out containing 
five men. As it approached nearer, it was 
seen that all five were black as tar, and that 
four were dressed in a narrow cloth hung 
about the loins, and nothing else. The 
other was attired just about as the ordinary 
colored longshoremen or boatmen around 
Charleston usually are. As the boat came 
up on the port side of the Azov, there was a 
general break among the emigrants, who 
tied in every direction, scrambling over the 
hatch houses and tumbling over each other 
in their precipitate flight. The children 
seemed especially frightened, and lied below. 
The individual with the clothes on scrambled 
up the side, a rope being thrown 
him, and proved to be a small, weazened and 
respectable-looking old black man. His com¬ 
panions stood up in their boat, slipped on 
loose blouses and pantaloons, put on their 
hats, and came aboard, excepting one philo¬ 
sophical savage, who remained in his boat 
and state of nudity with as much freedom 
from embarrassment as Adam ever did. The 
Azov's passengers rallied at the sight of the 
clothes, and crowded around the visitors, who 
held out their hands and suffered them to be 
shaken, and looked around them with natural 
surprise. The four strangers then went aft 
to the quarter deck, where the old man an¬ 
nounced himself to the captain as a pilot. 

I think if all the humbugs in the world 
could be collected and settled somewhere, 
that George Curtis would be king by natural 
right. As he did on all occasions, lie eagerly 
end)raced this opportunity of making an ass 
of himself, approached this old man with a 
book about the size of a common ledger, ami 
proceeded to ask him questions and record 
the answers, as if he were taking a deposi¬ 
tion. The pilot spoke a sort of cross between 
a Frenchman’s English and a negro’s, and 
answered the inquiries of “Pills” (Curtis’s 
soubriquet) in a helpless sort of way, while his 
companions stared in open-eyed wonder. 
The captain finally got the victim 
away, and he proceeded to attend to pilot 
ing, while his three friends (one of whom was 












17 


his sob) wandered about, being so beset with | 
questions and stared at that two of them 
finally took refuse in the ringing, where one 
immediately took off all his clothes again. 
The boat was meantime towed astern, and its 
solitary occupant proceeded to light a chalk 
pipe and smoke to the great delight of all be¬ 
holders. The steamer passed us and went on 
in, and we dropped anchor about 100 yards 
from the landing. Very soon the lights in the 
town began to glimmer out, and a beautiful 
effect they produced shining brightly up the 
dark side of the hill from the water’s edge. 

Soon after dark the deputy harbormaster 
came out in a neat little gig, pulled by two 
black oarsmen in sailor dress. He himself 
was a tall, well-made and good looking quad- 
j roon, looking very officer-like, in spotless 
I duck pantaloons and vest with brass buttons, 
loose blue coat and official cap. As he went 
into the captain’s cabin the passengers clust¬ 
ered about the windows aud knocked their 
heads together, trying to get a glimpse of 
this prodigy, and discussing warmly and 
audibly w hether he was a “yellow fellow,” 
or merely a white man tanned by tropical suns. 
The officer asked a few r questions as to what 
was wanted, &c., touched his cap, and went 
back over the side. He was very respectful 
and polite, and didn’t “put on style” half as 
i much as the average Circuit Court tipstaff 
does. “Pills” had penned the pilot’s son up 
in a corner, and proceeded to converse with 
him on the same principle pursued by Mrs. 
Somebody in “Little Dorrit,” with a foreigner 
—talking broken 4 English. Said Pills: “Me 
sabe one time several years ago, one, two, 
three much good men from here, and me sabe 
a man, he call Mr. Hazely, who was educated 
here.” Then, his victim having made some 
remark in perfectly intelligible English, said 
Pills : “Jali, yea, yes, oui, ce, rne understand,” 

| evidently desiring to impress us all with his 
profound knowledge of the African dialect. 

At about 9 o’clock the deputy harbormas¬ 
ter returned, bringing with him a black po¬ 

3 


liceman in a trim blue jacket with red trim¬ 
mings and pewter buttons, armed with a fa¬ 
miliar-looking club, wearing a guardsman’s 
cap. and evidently a perfect martinet in the 
matter of discipline, as he immediately pro¬ 
ceeded to pace the gangways, never for a 
moment unbending, replying to all questions 
with a stiff, official bow, holding his 
head up, and invariably touching his 
cap to the captain, mates and I. He 
is a West Indian, and speaks excel¬ 
lent English. He was put in charge, and 
the pilot and crew were ordered to stay 
aboard the Azor during the night. As I write, 
10 P. M., the lights are gleaming ashore, and 
voices come now and then from land or pass¬ 
ing boats which can be plainly distinguished 
as negroes, speaking negro. I could shut my 
eyes and easily imagine myself on the Battery 
in Charleston, with boats from the shore 
going by. The weather is delightful, there 
being a stiff sea breeze. 

May 29, 11 P. 31 .—Have been ashore all 
day “knocking around,” and my note-book 
and head are both in an appalling state of 
plethora, from incidents, pictures, figures, 
&c. The captain has decided in view of the 
uncertain state of the weather and his passen¬ 
ger’s health to be towed to Monrovia by the 
mail steamer. We will leave here at an early 
hour to-morrow. 

TWENTY-TIIREE DEATHS IN ALL. 

Two more deaths occurred on Thursday 
night, being those of Laura Clark, wife of 
Aleck Clark, of Clarendon, aged 25 years, of 
effects of confinement, and Hattie Brue, child, 
10 years old, from Burke County, Ga., of 
fever. One occurred to-day, being that of —-— 
Shaw, daughter of Wm. Shaw, of Georgia. 
Another took place at 10 o’clock to-night, 
being that of the wife of Wm. Johnson. 

May BO—Off this morning in tow of steamer 
Ethiopia. Will be in Monrovia in thirty hours, 
| (D. V.) from whence I will date my next. 


















CHAPTER II. 


A BRITISH CAPTAIN LEAVES THE EMIGRANTS IN THE LURCH—VISIT 
OF A DANDY DOCTOR—DANGER' IN DELAY—THE CONTRACT FOR A 
TOW TO MONROVIA WANTONLY BROKEN BY THE MAIL STEAMER- 
VISITING THE TOWN—ITS ETHNOLOGICAL, POLITICAL, AGRICUL¬ 


TURAL AND SOCIAL PECULIARITIES—NO NEED THERE FOR THE 
XVtii AMENDMENT—ARRIVAL OF ANOTHER STEAMER—THE AZOR 


SAFE AT MONROVIA. 


Monrovia, Sunday, June 3—Midnight.— 
My last letter, dated Sierra Leone, May 30, 
was abruptly concluded with the atiounce- 
ment that we were off for this place in tow of 
the steamer Ethiopia of the British mail line 
between Liverpool and the west coast of 
Africa. After posting that somewhat volumi¬ 
nous document, I hastened, in company with 
Capt. Holmes, to the lauding, whence we 
discerned, to our astonishment and grief, the 
Ethiopia steaming away over the bar without 
the Azov, which lay anchored at her place. 
We hurried aboard the bark, and signals were 
vainly made to recall the steamer, which 
finally disappeared around the cape. This 
desertion of us was not only a breach of com¬ 
mercial contract and plighted word on 
the part of Capt. Simmons of the Ethiopia, 
but it was a piece of the most heartless cruel¬ 
ty. He had distinctly made an agreement 
with Capt. Holmes to tow the Azor to Mon- 
lovia for L150, ($750,) the latter promising 
to be ready by 11 o’clock A. M. We were 
ready by 10.45 A. M., at which time the 
Ethiophia was steaming away nearly out of 
sight. Capt. Simmons perfectly knew our 
situation. He had been informed of the 
opinion expressed by the physician-that 
should further delay occur in disembarking 
the Azov's passengers, a large number would 
certainly die. What his motives were I do 
not know. I do know that he has violated 
the rules held sacred by every merchant and 
a ail or, not, to speak of gentleman or man of 
nonor. He is a disgrace to his company and 
ns nation. His conduct was generally 


characterized in Sierra Leone 


as “dirty. : 


FOIUIIDDEN FRUIT. 

My last entry in the “Journal” of any im¬ 
portance was on the 38th, the day of our ar¬ 
rival in Sierra Leone. Early next morning 
several bumboats w r ere about the ship, most 
of them having plentiful stores of pineapples, 
bananas, oranges, mangoes, alligator pears 
and cocoanuts, w r hich their owners clamor¬ 
ously offered for sale, speaking, like the 
pilot, a jabber apparently equally savoring of 
blench and African English. One or two 
women were also on hand, vociferously solic¬ 
iting orders for washing. The Azor people 
clustered like bees on the rails, and stared 
with open eyes on the visitors, and with wa¬ 
tering mouths on the fruit. This latter, how¬ 
ever, was rigidly excluded by the ship’s offi¬ 
cers. We had about 300 souls aboard, and 
had fruit been allowed as it was wanted, w r e 
should have had 300 severe stomach aches 
before night. 

THE DANGER OF DELAY 


About 8 o clock on this morning (39th) tin 
colonial physician came out in the harbor 
master s boat, lie (the physician) is an octo 

™\ Wlth th , e wh , ite duck suit, cork hat, can 
vas shoes, sffie wmsker and vocal inflectior 
ot the average Englishman in these parts. He 

bo«t a J * 6 ° f US ’ 1 think * and kept his 

mat at a safe distance, asking questions as tc 

en eHnTt^ ab0ard ’ J tS s - v 111 P tons, &c., and 
mte 1 mg the answers m a morocco notebook 

with a gold pencil. He was rowed by black 

sho^d d i Sl tw t0 thcru iu a rnauner that 
wo* H d plalDly tllat universal social equality 
nil by means an accomplished fact there. 
Bye and bye the uoetor came aboard, looked 
at the patients, prescribed for them, and 
promised to send medicines and disinfectants, 
lie confirmed our previous impression that 
the sickness was a mild form of ship fever 



















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•aadjas a-rxxn v 

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oavj jo 8ixo ‘sjooxyyo qsjySujy jo Suxyquuds 
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•otiftas: AHVNiatio anx 

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i saqBqs OAiqaaasa.i Jiaqq ui Aypaquaquoa puB AyqB 
i -qjojmoa Ajoa aAiy oq maas yiB pnB ‘qquoux jad 
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sb qons ‘sjpBjq jo ssByo jOAVoy aqx 'soobj OMq 
aqq jo suoxqByaj aqq pun Aqaxoos joj avo^j 

•amouoo anx mi saov.vv 

•ajnqB.xaqxy puB 

saxqpod s t ajaqx *o vvoy[ qqx.w oavoj aqq ’aqBiu 
; oqAv asoqj oq samxqamos puB ‘aAvoqy oq sqij 
1 SuiaxS samxqamos ‘quo saxuoo ‘joiqaja>ypuBq 
qaqood b jo axis aqq qnoqB sx qoxqAV qaaqs 
X aqq uaqx 'uoiqxsoddo aqq Aq pauAvo qgqno 




60 













aqq jo uoyiaod oqq 9 -ijq oq -ioqqaSoq qa$ ‘quyad ut 
sajaqq jo <t gujqq ayqqp,, ouios aas oq quBM oqM 
‘uam qSiiono uqun uoisuadsns b sorisua aaaqq 
uoqx - adAq siq :pc soqBq mmi OAVoqT oqq puB 
‘omoj v, jo i—p b si aaaqq OMOp sosoddo qaoqs 
aqBunqaojun aqq u’aqAt pat? ‘ssoad siq Abmb 
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omo^j sqaoddns jodud oqq uaq^ *OMoa b sAbay 
" 1 ® 8 } aaaqq Ayqaanbasuoo -um aMoqx Suoaqs 
b si adAq aqq sumo oqM ubui aqq apqM ‘snois ! 
-r :.).)0 pB no ruiq qqiAY oa\o.i b aqt?ui oq squBM 
pm; ‘Aopod put? uoiqBjqsyuimpB s.SMoq .iou.ia 
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oq av ubui aqx •ojpBJOds si qoiqM jo oouaqsixa 
oqq ‘auoa r x Baaaig ui aadBdSMau b OABq Aoqx 

*H 5 ?dYJSAiax nvoiiuv nv 

'31 

.in; aaqqaq pm? aaiddttq oqq maos op Aoqq put; 
‘suoiqooya qqiM payqnoaq jaAau oydoad Acldttq b 
aas om oaoq og 'OAopoq j ‘poaoyoo aat? saooypo 
IfAio Aqqod oqq jo auiog (^suBodoang;,, ‘oaaqq 
y>apBo aaB Aoqq sb *ao) ‘uoui oqiqM yyB aat? Aoqx 
'juamuaoAof) qsiqiap oqq Aq pajuioddt? pa 
-uuoa put? aonaaAOO t? Aq papu si Auoyof) aqx 
saiqpod oqq saraoo ‘jo pasodsip qsaisBa aqq 
asrreoaq ‘qsatg *ayqissod st? a<it?qs qanui st; 
tu aoqqaSoq Moaqq oq OAt?q piM j qaiqM ‘saatqd 
put? samiq ppo jt? pauBayS st?M qaiqM auoax 
t?aaaig Suipati^aa uoiqBuuojui qamu si aaoqx 

“ANcnoo anx .to xistaivsjimAoo 


"AysnoqynqBaS soma 
-ipatii jo sojqiquBnb aSaBy sn ^uiqsiuanj put; 
‘/iuiaajBM ano aqBqpioBj oq saaqt?aaq put? sjt?oq ; 
iia\o siq Suipuay ‘Abjs ano "uianp su oq puiq ) 
Apuipaaaxa sbay UBiuoyquoi? siqx •qoofqns 
aqi uo SA\t?[ tyspifug oqq aaaojua put; 'uozy aqq 
patioqt? saaSuassBd jo aaqiumi aqq oqui uoiqBXhq 
-saAui snoaoSia t? aqriqiqsui pynoM aq SupiBS p’a 
-jamajp om ji jt?qj A[uit?id AaaA papiaijui pttq 
(omoji JOIU 8AOQ) aoiuuAo;) aipi si? Aypiaadsa 
pagsips Ajissaoau jo aaaM oa\ siqj q'4}^\ 

"UAtOH 1ION1I3AOD dO SSSKONIH 


'0^3 ^>q3 JO ouo mo.ij Sm 
-MOJ ja^ Aiupjaaa pinoM om jt?qj put: ‘punoq 
pat;Avpto aajjt?! aqj put; patiMaruoq aatuaoj aqi 
At? pa up; g uo anp aaaM (saauntajs) diimotr put; 
P>^R oqj 3^113 pouiaojui aaaM om‘ aaaqj aoj 
aaoqst? juaAt oav uaqAV uoi4t?[osuoa amos sbav 
,U0I IX "aanjaisdap ano aoj poxij auuj aqj a ay it: 
anoq ut? jnoqt; paBoqt; oiut;a oq sb ‘uiba ‘aaAa 
-Moq st?M adoq siqx 'saaqpaj Am? ‘jnoqjiM 
qaoaBod pio snopioipia t? a>p[ punoat? SuipaMs 
Pub soAi'jttu aqj jo aaqiunu t? jo aouasaad 
aqj ui jyasuiiq jo sst? ut; Suiqt?iu ‘aauaoa aut?i 
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“ sin<1 ” J° odot I * Joj ‘poiqnop aaoAv 
Pire uo ^°.9I3JOui A W •quamquioddBSip 

Anon ( >! ^ r:x ' )A JO J ^ J0 °3 Apea.! qsouqt? paqooT 
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'a.ioii niva v 


I 3uauMuioddBsip 25 JW ^ 

Parisitf 1 PUT? p0 '^ n !> T oaaqAV ‘aaoq 

paqsna om uaqx *suoai ui tuiq qaS oq paap 


-aa si;a\ > 


piOM pat:q pun Atqap s,anoq 




To 


put: ‘uaoqqnqs aq oq pt?aq sit[ ui qi >yooq sjojibs 
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*v ‘a "i anx no xavna v 

i ooq siqq Atauq saaSt?uBui 
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9 soqq jo OAiq uBqq oaoiu quiqq qjiop j -uoiq 
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0 IJM ‘aoqqouy a *Aauoui oaoiu qnoqqiAt qaBqs 
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aqou qsBy aqq oabS j„ ; aui pp>q ouq ‘OTS; 
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BiaSuassBd aSvaoaqs aqq jo ittaaAag *amaqas 
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aqq qdiuaqqB oq papaaooau oq put; ‘uoiqBiaos 
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sb asuodxa aqq aqttm oq paqsiM souqoff *qdBf> 
■papus OABq oq sn aoj soaij Aubui pm? atiuq 
JO 8 At;p qsoo oabij qqJiim qi aouBqsip oqq aaAo 
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•snaoNassv.i ssauiMNa.i 

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jo sqai.oq oqq oq aBop os ‘pjnp 4t aoAiv suioop,, 
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•dNOwnoia ao mNaAnos v 


i. — t' ~ V 1 ''-111 rMJJSTn 

qi qnq aaaq pp>s osp; si ouiav ui|B r x ‘SuiqqAut; 
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qB pas saiddt:aui r x -pooif aaB saSiiBao aiiV 
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ub jtiiiABq ‘[njqqSpap oat? sooifuBw •mam 
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SBUBUBq *A\ou>y pB noA suibA ‘moujj pt; noA 
sqmiBonof) -suiBquByd put? scubA ‘sqinai‘aou 
uotydmnsuooayqBq joj uaoo jo U suiqqnu,, mot 
• sasiBj aqg 'sqnuBad puB po uiyBd ‘sappy 


4 
























. 10 .oili.o ApBdpuud soonpojd ouoog Buoig 
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JO UOJJOOS B Oqp spoof ipiqAV JOqjBXU I? SI 9.19XIV 

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oj ^uojb jugs si ii9uiso|bs aoian[ gqj jo 9uo 
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-jo xuy jxio Snijjajo ui Ajpioppp 9[jjp sx 9.19I|X ; I 

•xaaaxs ssaNisaa anx 


q *J9qjoS 

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oqj SI ojojs siqj jo 3[0Bg \qoB[q ‘joSuossoui— 
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jopjo t|3ix[ Ajoa b jo oSbjtioo jo jooad 
soaiJj Aqo.ioqj uioqj jo ouo sojq oqAv uxuu 
oqj jbijj si B9x>i Aj^ 'jspsnm ojoq qjoouis 
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•sunJi puB Suiqjo[o u ‘suoijou,, ‘ojBMpjBq 
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jsiq oqj ufj *9uoo r x ‘PJJOJS n T 9souisnq jsoSjbj 
oqj ^uiox> mjq qspJlug ub jo jaqmom b 
si OAijBjuosojdoj uBoijotuy oqx *ssbo om sb 
A isnopiojodns sn soAa oqM—s.io.ioqB[ jo SubS 
b ^uipuojuuodns ‘oojj b J9|)un SujpuBjs pxiB 
‘adid oSjbj b Snpjouis ‘soaoois jjiqs siq pnB 
jBq jjjoo b ui ‘aBuiqspSug jpnq A|ojbuI>s b— 
UBTU 9Jll|AV ouo Apio oos o^y < t i uiujoui ooSl,, 
sAbs puB jBq siq soqonoj jooui o,w ubiu Ajoao 
A|jbo u jBqj 9jno.i U9 ojou Oj\y ’OOubAoauoo siq 
qj]A\ diqs oqj uo jibav oj jxosmiq 5 juiSbSuo 
hi spoooons oq Ab w oqj uo put: ‘jBoq b uio.ij 
dn poqoid ubiu qoBjq b uooq sBq opinS ju(i 
•sjboxj a uojjpuS suoijoxS,, oqj qoiqAv uio.ij 

‘ansNOO Nvomaivv anx 

jo ssouisnq jo ooBjd 
oqj oj sn sSuij(| sjoujod ibjoaos punoJB juib 
SJOOJJS JBJ9AOS UMOp P|BAV j.ioqs V "SJOUJOO 
jjoqj jb pojuiBd ‘-oc\> <t ‘joojjs pjojxo,, u ‘joojjs 
JOJ«Mm u ‘juujj9 uox*a\bjx,, sb qons ‘souibu 
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-jb[ qjiA\ ])opuno.uns Ajojs joddn oqj ‘sojojs 
oiub.ij Ajojs-omj oii.nq jbjoaos Suioq ojoqj 
‘poqoBOJ si Suippnq snoijuojo.id ojoui b sjba.ioj 
-ui ifuo{ jy *du sjomoj omj jo oojj jxjuboooo 

B lUOqj JO JSOUl III X->UB ‘soiqBjogoA .ioqjo ,woj 
B |)UB SUIBA bi.ioo JO SqjBJS Jjoqs AVO.lS ‘OJBnbs 
jooj oaxj-Ajuoaos jnoqB ApBjauoS ojb qoiq.w 

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Sujoq sjbjs oqj ‘souo jb[ 8 AjBuip .10 oqj JSupq 
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sasaoH anx 

•SpOOAV puB SSBJS UB9 

-ijomy .mo oj JB[iiuis Apspojd 9 sbjS jo jaxuoq 
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jooj oqj Suo|B ojoui jpnq si uAtojaojg ‘ 0 |d 
-ood ()00pu« OOO^Ob* ti^OAtjaq suibjuoo puB 


03 


















‘jSBOO 0 q 4 JO }[DBq S9[IUI AJ.Uqj OUIOS SplIOJ 
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-aoq SujAxibo ‘psoq aoq uo oonpoad jo spunod 
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-Sot avs puqo b ijjim ‘Aajunoo 91(4 ui sopui moaj 
90Bd poos B 4 B UAV 04 OJUl qjBAV I(IAV ubuiom y 
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oaaqj ‘spBoq iiBiunq uo ouop si uoijBjaodsuBaj 
PUB[49A0 0 T{( I(B 4 S 0 TU(y *409J49d aOTJjaS 

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jo uaqods jsnt saopmoqs sqj puB ‘mo.ijb ub 
sb 4 q.JuB.t 4 s sb 41 aopun pojpBM 4 nq ‘pnoq aoq 
uo pBO[ AAB9q b pBq aouAvo .uoqx ‘aaoii mbs 
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UI joq ‘.19^J)BA\S B 9 q PJUOM UBUI gjiqM B III 
4 bi(av qjiM j((bm puB ‘jDoao AaoA ApBaouoJ? g.ib 

sax'as nxou ao srijoaj OMiHoavT anx 


* 49 (J[B 0 S ao poa 4q^i.iq b 1101 
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siq ui pgoupojjiu ao[oo jqSuq ouios 40S 04 so 

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A[punojoad sqooj sAbm[b aaq4oiu oq t -ohs 

V JT M/ " m ' W -tnobi.aa’fsw^ 

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1 b ugqM suiosoq J(9q4 J9A0 dn pud A9i(4 qoiqAV 

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( jioeuiiq d( 9 q Aiqissod ubo oq ji s? aoAou utuu 
-[nssriH b qoiqM ui ojp jo uoijipuoo b) qaoM 
4 B 9 jb oi[av uoaqjoaq aojqiunq aioqj, u'^ 1! P 
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i S44iqs U 04400 ui P 94144 B U 9 UIS 4 BO qoBjq 0 M 4 Aq i 
popadoad 4 boqb ui ‘aaoqsB 4uom j puB soupojj 
•jdBO ‘ouoS pBq 4 O 40 OP oi (4 sb uoos sy 

*aaonsv onioo 

• 404 BAV puB pooj jo A 4 T 0 .TBOS oqj jo noi 4 
-uoui Su( 44 ituo ‘ouo(B ssouqois oqj aoj ‘ui S 1114 
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- qiuSis puB snouiuio oq 4 sbm < 4 ‘sq 4 B 9 p Ajxis 04 
A 4 jq luoax,, *aoSuo{ sABp U 04 aoj p9AB[9p oq 
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-uoo ot }4 4 BI(AV poqsB SBAV 9}{ *pB9aq4no (BJBJ 
pilB 4U0(01A B JO JOSuBp Oqj P9SB940UI oaoqsB 
sjuBaSiuio oqj JfuijjoS ui A'B(op jo Ab() A-ioao 
4^q4 uoiuido siq sb oabj? ajj -eouBpuajjB 
(BOipOUl 4U9I0(IJ0Ul PUB 99UI0tp9UI JllOIOTpUS 
-ui ‘ssoui(UBO(oun ‘ifuipMoaoaoAO Aq pasiiBO I 




61 






















23 


off to a “little supper,” in a delightfully cool 
upstairs room somewhere, where a miniature 
fountain played from among green shrubs in 
the centre of the table, and we ate roast fowl 
and salmon, and drank claret from porous 
clay utensils in company with two men black 
as crows, one of whom addressed my friend 
by his last name. There’s social equality, and* 
nobody seems to feel or see any difference. 
My American friend says “You soon get used 
to it. The fact is the colored people in Sierta 
Leone are so thoroughly Anglicized in every 
respect that the English find no difficulty in 
forgetting their skins. I ain’t English. I 
learn that the colored daughter of my English 
friend is a leader of the Freetown Ion. In¬ 
deed, Avhile I was in the house, the wife of a 
major in the army came in and paid a sociable 
visit. 

THE CONVEYANCES. 

1 have not been able to see much of the 
town which, they say, lies behind the hill, as 
it was too far to walk, and the only other con¬ 
veyances are wheeled and sedan chairs, pro¬ 
pelled or carried by natives, which don't look 
either clean or pleasant. The Governor has 
a large hammock, carried by a small company 
of servants, in which he can stow himself and 


family, but he never offered to lend it to me. 
The total number of wdiite people in the Col¬ 
ony is about 200. The thermometer usually 
ranges between 90 and 100. 

OFF FOR MONROVIA. 

That’s about nearly all I know about Sierra 
Leone, as we started from there at 3 o’clock, 
yesterday (Saturday) evening, in tow of the 
steamer Senegal. I’ve been working almost this 
entire Sunday to get this ready to go back with 
her. Now it’s 9 P. M. I will date this the 
time of our arrival in Monrovia. The steamer 
charges us £210 for towing down. 

This, in common with the preceding letter, 
has been written in the upper berth of a nar¬ 
row cabin, and with all the disadvantages of 
sickness, the rolling and pitching of the ves¬ 
sel, and other discomforts and inconveniences 
which were necessary consequences of out- 
crowded condition and poor provision. Under 
such circumstances the brain docs not work 
freely, nor is the hand cunning in transcribing. 
There is one comfort, however. The hand¬ 
writing of most of this is such as to give me 
assurance that it will avenge me of my adver¬ 
sary, the intelligent compositor, to whom I 
owe a grudge of long standing. My next 
from Monrovia. 











CHAPTER III. 


MORE ABOUT SIERRA LEONE—FREETOWN, AS A PLEASANT CONTRAST 
TO DISMAL MONROVIA—OTHER FEATURES OF THE AZOR’S STOP¬ 
PING-PLACE—THE CHURCHES AND THE FOUNTAINS—AN EXECU¬ 
TION-NATIVE HATRED OF EUROPEANS—THE KINDLY BEHAVIOR 
OF THE OFFICERS AND AMERICAN CONSUL. 


Monrovia, June 3.— I sent letters back by 
the mail steamer, which towed us here and 
started on its return to Sierra Leone before 
daylight this morning. As everybody does 
when writing in haste, I omitted several in¬ 
teresting points about Sierra Leone. One of 
tin; principal of these was what nearly every¬ 
body (more shame to them) is prone to omit, 
when necessity compels some omission— 

RELIGIOUS MATTERS. 


j ignorant of who and what he was. Besides 
the cathedral there are twelve or more church 
buildings in Sierra Leone of less architectural 
pretensions, belonging to Methodists, Bap¬ 
tists, Presbyterians, and other denominations. 
All of these, I was informed, are attended by I 
congregations of fair numerical strength, 
composed, of course, of the civilized and edu¬ 
cated natives, with a sprinkling in nearly all 
of Europeans or their descendants. When I 
met the English clergyman above alluded to, 1 
he was apparently returning from 


Churches arc plentiful in and about Free¬ 
town. The first one noticed on arrival is St. 
George’s Cathedral, which stands near the 
water side, and is a large structure appar¬ 
ently of stone, (I had no opportunity of ex¬ 
amining closely,) with a tower and clock. It 
has that substantial, solid look common to 
English ecclesiastical edifices, (according to 
the illustrated magazines,) which always im¬ 
press one with the feeling that their’s is in¬ 
deed an established church, able to withstand 
attacks from within and without, as the 
buildings themselves withstand the assaults of 
wind, weather and time. Over this presides 
an English clergyman. I met him in the 
street and recognized him immediately. I 
had seen him a thousand times before, in pic¬ 
tures, in society dramas and elsewhere, cleanly 
shaven face, shovel hat, cravat, coat and all. 
He bore his profession all over him, and in 
this regard it seems as though the English 
set an example worthy of iraitatation by 
American ecclesiastics, many of whom seem 
to dress with a view of concealing their voca¬ 
tion as much as possible. It is a well known 
fact that it, is often impossible to decide on 
sight whether a man is a minister of the 
Gospel or a sewing machine agent. Those 
known as clergymen invariably command re¬ 
spect from everybody, and it would be very 
easy for them to be always recognizable. I 
saw a somewhat distinguished preacher once 
:u a , secular meeting which he had 
opened with prayer, leaning over the plat 
form railing habited in 1 rough overcoat 


and slouch hat, smoking a cigar, and inn( 
way distinguishable from Tom, Dick am 

swoSand ta 8 iu ni < i arly attired and unemployed 
v\ and talked smut all around him, total!) 


AN EXECUTION 


which took place on Friday. The subject of 
the operation was a civilized native, a mem¬ 
ber of a Protestant, Church, and a man of 
previously good character, who had arisen 
one night, killed one or two persons, and 
nearly hacked the life out of others. Eng¬ 
lish courts have never put faith in the tem¬ 
porary insanity business, and this interesting ! 
personage was duly convicted, sentenced and 
hanged without luss or feathers, lie seemed 
perfectly sane, and made the usual speech de¬ 
claring his assurance of heaven. I heard one 
old black woman remark with manifestations I 
of considerable disgust that she could’nt, be 
made to believe that the murderer would <r 0 
to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and , 
Jacob while the murdered, cut off unwarned 
and unprepared, descended to the pit of infinite 
horrors. At least she tried to sav that,, and it | 
does seem as if there was some reason in her 
remark. The execution was witnessed by a 
crowd of about 1,500, natives, Europeans, 
Mussulmans, Christians and heathens, all of 
whom preserved the utmost decorum throu« r h- 
,out. In the course of his remarks, just pre¬ 
vious to the falling of the trap, the condemned 
man warned his fellow natives that they were 
standing in their own light, and injuring | 
themselves by the disposition shown by some 
or them to oppose European influence. 
(Everything not pure native African is called 
European.”) There is some feeling of this | 
sort, but I don’t think it amounts to much, l 
although 1 heard one native of some promi- j 
nence quoted as having said that he hated 
everything with a drop of European blood in 
it. feuch cases, however, are probably very 
















25 


rare. I really cannot, see what the people 
have to complain of. They are 

NOT HEAVILY TAXED, WELL GOVERNED, 

protected, given enough to do, if they want 
to work, their commerce and trade encouraged 
and every possible measure is apparently taken 
to insure their comfort and welfare, spiritual 
and temporal. Besides all this they have that, 
crowning glory and blessing, the privilege of 
abusing anybody and everybody as much and 
long as they please, which is what l conceive to 
be the real meaning and intent of those, watch 
words which have passed about the camp-fires 
of humbug from time immemorial almost— 
“Free Speech and a free Press.” So, really, it 
does look as if they ought to be reasonably 
happy and contented,and 1 think that they are. 
Of course, they don’t hang all of the criminals 
in Sierra Leone, but they make crime a rather 
serious business. About the town, in several 
places, I met gangs of men, in blue and white 
striped suits,bearing theword “Convict across 
the back of the. shoulders in large white letters. 
They were invariably at work at something, 
and w'ere guadred. One guard, I noticed, bore 
a “cat,” which probably helped to keep the 
prisoners laboring. Among the convicts 1 saw 
no white man. 

the public fountains. 

Another feature of Sierra Leoue which I 
omitted mentioning is the public fountains or 
hydrants which stand on the corners in seve¬ 
ral places. (The idiots who wrote the English 
grammars have failed to show as yet how you 
cau speak of a number of “fountains,” plural, 
composing a “feature,” singular and make a 
smooth sentence. The fact is, I have discov 
ered that, w hen a plural forms a singular, the 
effect, is apt to be singular — a —a a 
that is — the fact is that exactly how plural 
fountains can be made to form a singular fea¬ 
ture is one of those singular features of Eng¬ 
lish grammar that no fellow can find out 
This is a grammatical parenthesis, and may 
be skipped by the reader greatly to his own 
edification.) As I "-as going to say when 
interrupted by the visiou of some five 
thousand school hoys and g^ls, aided, 
abetted and incited by parents and teachers, 
writing to criticise my grammar, these plural 
fountains form quite a feature, the effect oi 
which * heightened hy the continue pre- 
sence in and about them of swarms of half, 
seven-eighths and eight-eighths nude boys 
and girls splashing around and catching water 
fn their calabashes, while tired men and 
women in picturesque costumes 
the edpes and rest aftei drinking. - 

ives afe aB very cleanly, invariably bathing 
once and frequently twice or thrice each day. 


I think they generally go in with their clothes 
or clothe (another English linguistic idiot* \, 
why isn’t there a regular singular for 
“clothes” to answer the requirements of peo¬ 
ple who wear only one garment?) on, and 
either remove them, or it, in the water, or 
keep them, or it., on. They, or it., do not, or 
does not, suffer from wetting. 

the tornado. 

Another feature is the tornado, which 
comes almost, every day’ during the rainy 
season, from May to October. It rises away 
up in the still mysterious interior somewhere, 
and comes sweeping down, sometimes hardly 
stronger than a good land breeze, sometimes 
furiously, bringing a driving rain with it. It 

generally lasts from a quarter to halt an hour, 
and cools the atmosphere delightfully. 

two burials. 

I spoke in my last of the two deaths which 
occurred aboard while at Sierra Leone. The 
two bodies were, taken ashore and buried in 
consecrated ground, being each accompanied 
by a few friends. It. seems the very essence 
of the “sarcasm of fate” that these poor 
creatures should have come thousands of 
miles to Africa only to die in sight of its 
shores, and find their graves in its longed-for 
soil The scamp of an undertaker charged 
£5.12 (about $28) for the two burials, which 
were as simple and plain as could he. Neither 
of the families of the deceased could raise 
the $14 to pay their share, and the captain 
was obliged to advance it. 

a vote of thanks. 

Wc left Sierra Leone with some regret, for 
we were treated with great kindness and con¬ 
sideration by everybody, and had enjoyed the 
abundance of fresh meats vegetables an 1 
fruits, and the walks about the streets, al¬ 
ways full of animation and bustle, intensely 
Besides this, we received there from every¬ 
body the most discouraging reports of Mon¬ 
rovia I interviewed several ex-Liberians, 
and received the most unfavorable accounts 
of this country, in comparison with which 

they seemed to“ regard Sierra Leone as an 
earthly paradise. But we had to come, and 
we came. I cannot close without again speak- 
bnr of the kindness experienced from the 
Governor, and from Mr. Broadhurst the 
American representative, an Englishman, it 
(^unremitting, ami displayed in a thousand 
wavs, and everebody aboard the Azm has 
reason to be extremely grateful to those gen- 
Sen. When I have gotten my hearings 
here a little, j will write what I know r about 
Liberia. 


4 























CHAPTER IV. 


THE EMIGRANTS IN LIBERIA—'THEIR DISEMBARKATION AND RECEP¬ 
TION AT MONROVIA—FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF “THE PROMISED 
LAND”—AN IRRUPTION OF BLUE-STREAKED KROOMEN—TIIEIR 
UNPLEASANT PECULIARITIES—GOING ASHORE—A TOWN IN THE 
JUNGLE—THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION—PITIFUL PLIGHT OF 
THE DUSKY PILGRIMS—CRIMINAL NEGLECT OF THE EXODUS AS¬ 
SOCIATION—THE MISSING PROVISIONS —PAID FOR, BUT NOT 
10R 1 DOOMING—KINDNESS OF THE LIBERIAN GOVERNMENT AND 
PEOPLE-SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE FREE AFRI¬ 
CAN REPUBLIC, WHERE NO WHITE MAN TS ALLOWED TO VOTE, 
AND A PROPERTY QUALIFICATION IS ENFORCED 


Monrovia, Liberia, June 17, 1878.—IIow 
the Azor left Sierra Leone in tow of the 
British mail steamer on the afternoon of the 
1st of June and arrived here before day on 
the morning of the 3d has already been told. 
On the evening of the 2d wc caught our first 
certain glimpse of Liberian soil in 

GRAND CAPE MOUNT, 

to which we passed close enough to make out 
the trees on its sides and top. It seemed 
densely wooded down to the very water’s 
e< ^S e > though what the trees were we could 
not tell. After passing this point, which re¬ 
mained in sight a long time, it being 1,060 
feet high, we saw along the flat coast a con¬ 
tinuous fringe of lofty tree-tops. Everybody 
stayed on deck and watched these until dark¬ 
ness shut out the “promised land.” A few 
of the more enthusiastic pilgrims remained 
above, and nearly all night strained their eyes 
to see something. The more practical, how¬ 
ever, consoled themselves with the reflection 
that the Continent would not run away before 
daylight, and “turned in.” Finally we 
stopped, the anchor was let go, and we were 

AT MONROVIA ! 

AH we could see of Monrovia then was an 
exceedingly sickly looking light above and 
some distance off, said to be on the top of 
Cape Mesurado. Then the captain of the 
steamer came aboard, collected bis £150 for 

towing and Ids £10 for the use of his hawser 


went off, and soon steamed out and disap¬ 
peared. 

“Little by little as daylight increased. 
Deepening the roseate Hindi in the east. 

Little by little did daylight reveal”- 

the Cape rising high above us (its height is 
given as250 feet) with a flimsy looking light¬ 
house,quite in keeping with the light, on top. 
About half-way up the hill a little house 
stood among the dark green trees. The Cape 
was covered on the sides that, we could see 
and on the top with a thick growth of trees, 
bushes and vines, growing down to the low 
clifl which forms its base, and against which 
the waves leap up and break in masses of 
white foam. Jo the left (westward) of the 
cape was a wide bar, over which the breakers 
were rushing, and to the left of that again 
was a broad white beach fringed by trees 
stretching gradually away as far as we could 
see. Behind the bar there was a glimpse of 
still water and a clump of trees. This was 

nmrnW 3 ’ ^ itS aS lirst ^CU that 

singing b ° me ° f lhe P assen S e, ' s Began 

Land ahead, its fruits are waving, 

O tr its holds of endless green 

And the living waters laving 

‘ acres where Heavenly forms are seen.” 

then n eavc < n,y . forms werc seen about 

sis ted of 1 tlC 6lDging st °PP ed - They con- 

A FLEET OF “DUG OUT” CANOES, 
each propelled by two or three gentlemen in 

















27 


the aforementioned state of near nudity, with 
paddles shaped like a pointed spade, or a 
trowel bayonet. These individuals came pad¬ 
dling out through the surf like mad, and soou 
reached the ship’s side to which the emi¬ 
grants eagerly crowded. Each of the new ar¬ 
rivals had a dark blue line about an inch 
broad tattooed from the roots of his hair to 
the end of his nose, and it was discovered 
that all had on some clothes. Some had only 
a cloth, others a coat and cloth, others a coat 
only, others a shirt, one all three. They had 
each suspended about their necks a string or 
two of beads, and small bags of “medicine.” 
Some had hats, some gaudily trimmed smok¬ 
ing caps, some ridiculous woollen night caps. 

It reminded one of the old Mother Goose 
melody: 

“Hark, hark, the dogs do bark, 

Beggars come to town. 

Home in rags, and some in 

Tags, and some in velvet gown,” 

except that there was nothing in the remotest 
degree suggestive of velvet gown. '1 hese 
fellows gabbled away among themselves in 
some heathenish and unknown dialect, with a 
great many “o’s” and short and long “a’s” 
in it. They occasionally addressed us in some 
few words of imperfect English. 1 at once 
conceived the idea that they were the orjginal 
intoners. Their whole language seemed to j 
be a series of intonations. Their words for 
“yes” is a sound something like a drunken 
man’s utterance of the letter N, and they say 
it so much as a High Church Episcopalian 
does the last syllable of ‘ amen,” that the re¬ 
semblance is startling. 

BOARDED BY THE NATIVES. 

The emigrants were the most disgusted and 
crestfallen looking set that ever 1 saw'. They 
wandered disconsolately around Inquiring 
axiously of each other whether these were 
specimens of Liberians. “Why,” said the pas¬ 
sengers indignantly, “they can’t even talk 
English.” The mate stationed himself at the 
gangway and ordered every canoe to keep off, 
forbidding our visitors to fulfil their an¬ 
nounced desire to come aboard. The rascals 
paddled around, however, and made a feint 
of climbing up on the side, aud when the 
vigilant ollicer rushed around to drive them 
r>ack, their companions streamed in over the 
gangway in such numbers and scattered about 
the ship so quickly that it was impossible to 
get them off except by inaugurating a knock¬ 
down and drag-out fight which would have 
been unpleasant. The whole gang therefore 
got aboard. The head men immediately 
sought the captain, and produced their 
“books,” i. c. their written recommendation 
of good character and working ability 
procured from various captains, and carried 
in water-tight tin tubes about twelve inches 
long bv two thick, suspended about their 
necks. ” It theu transpired that our new 


friends were Kroomen, that is members of 
the Kroo Tribe of Africans. Detachments of 
this tribe, which is a very large one, are scat¬ 
tered up and down the west coast. They are 
amphibious animals, and will do no work ex¬ 
cept on or in the water. Their perfect famil¬ 
iarity with that element, and their skill aud 
endurance in rowing and working about ships, 
render them an indispensable auxiliary to the 
trader along the coast, especially as there are 
few good harbors, the ports having generally, 
like Monrovia, only open roadsteads, and ves¬ 
sels being loaded or unloaded by small boats. 
These visitors of ours were desirous of pro¬ 
curing work, and therefore the visit. Being 
disposed of by the captain, they spread them¬ 
selves about the vessel, aud soon gave proof 
that at least two bumps were largely devel¬ 
oped on their uraniums—inquisitiveness and 
acquisitiveness. They are the most whining, 

I persistent and shameless beggars I ever saw. 

THE KKOOMAN. 

A Krooman will beg until you give him 
nineteen shillings, then charge you the odd 
one for a service worth a penny, and want his 
pay in advance. If they, as a people, have a 
single redeeming trait of character, I confess 
1 have never seen it manifested. They seem 
“villains by necessity; fools by heavenly com¬ 
pulsion; knaves, thieves and treacherous by 
spherical predominance; drunkards, liars and 
adulterers by an enforced obedience to 
planetary influence.” Their inordinate in¬ 
quisitiveness is unfettered by any conven¬ 
tional delicacy. The first one I ever spoke to 
stuck his head in the cabin, and wanted to 
know where was I from ? Was America a 
big place ? Were my father and mother 
there V What did they do for a living ? Was 
I married ? Wasn’t I “co’tin’ ?” Why wasn’t 
I ? llow old was I, and so on, ad infinitum, 
until it wound up—had I an old coat, hat 
shirt, handkerchief, knife or piece of chewing 
tobacco to give him V No Krooman ever asks 
for pantaloons, and I think they begin to 
chew tobacco when about 4 years old. 1 will 
have more to tell of these gentry further ou. 
The cause of the blue marks on their noses is, 
however, curious enough to be recorded here. 
It seems that in the time when the slave 
trade flourished, the Kroos were as useful 
watermen as now. The slavers would, there¬ 
fore, never purchase one, or only did so to 
set him at liberty, fearing t,o incur the 
hostility of the tribe, and the Kroos adopted 
the blue mark as a sign of their nationality, 
which always protected them from purchase 
by the white men. They are very proud of 
having never been slaves, and frequently 
twit the Liberians with the fact, when a 
quarrel occurs. About 9 o’clock on the 
morning of our arrival, a large row boat, 
manned by eight Kroomen, pulled out with 
the harbormaster and emigration commis¬ 
sioner, who came aboard. They being 

THE FIRST AMERICO-LlBElilANS 

that we had seen, were watched with much 














28 


interest. The harbormaster is a young man, 
a quadroon, and was attired in a dark blue 
coat, brilliant with tarnished gold shoulder 
straps and trimmings and buttons, while his 
head was ornamented with a white cork hat, 
from the back of which depended a “pug- 
aree” (a scarf or veil of white cloth worn 
around the hat, and much affected by the 
bloods of the tropics.) The rest of his dress 
was that of an ordinary civilian. The com¬ 
missioner is also acting secretary of State. He 
is about the same color as his companion, but 
taller and apparently several years older; and 
was made very sick by the swell. The ap¬ 
pearance of these two well dressed and intel¬ 
ligent specimens of the inhabitants of the 
“Black Republic” was a great comfort to the 
emigrants, giving them assurance that there 
were at least some clothed and civilized be¬ 
ings ashore. Just here 


A SURPRISING PISCOVERY 

was made. It . was found, from the state¬ 
ments of the visitors, that the Liberian gov¬ 
ernment had received no notification what¬ 
ever of the departure of the emigrants, or of 
any of the proceedings of the Liberian Exo¬ 
dus Association, or the Steamship Associa¬ 
tion. Nothing was known in Monrovia of the 
emigration except what had been gathered 
from stray copies of and extracts from The 
News and Couhiek. This was not encour¬ 
aging news to begin with, by any means. An¬ 
other discovery was also made, which tended 
still further to lower our opinion of British 
steamship captains. This was that the com¬ 
mander of the steamer which had towed us 
had quietly dropped us about three miles fur¬ 
ther out to sea than we should have been, 
leaving us anchored probably four miles from 
the Cape. Capt. Holmes having never visited 
this port before was to a certain degree at 
the Englishman’s mercy, and had accepted his 
statement that we were on the usual anchor¬ 
age as true, whereas it was totally false. The 
wishes for a prosperous voyage for the Brit¬ 
isher were not very fervent after that. About 
10 o’clock several of us went ashore in the 
harbormaster’s boat. On the way we passed 
a small schooner, anchored just, off the 
head of the Cape, bearing the name 
A Lincoln , and were informed that 
she was a Liberian craft owned in Mon¬ 
rovia. We also learned that the deuse green 
foliage which covered the Cape was the cof¬ 
fee tree, the hill being a coffee plantation be¬ 
longing to the estate of ex-President Roberts. 

A berm an bark also at anchor composed the 
remainder of the shipping in the roadstead. 
Wc pulled over the bar with no trouble, the 
surf being light. Now we were inside the 
Cape, and on the Mesurado River, which here 
s aoout half a mile wide. On the left the 
beach stretches away, with a landscape of 
a ooded country exteudiug back from it. On 

behind 11 ° f M u IUt ° beaeh eomes out, and 
bt imd it is a small extent of flat land, lyino- 

W, e ,“' 1 ot «>e hill and the wLr” 

Amon B the trees and bushes o£ this little 


plain are to be seen the thatch houses com¬ 
posing the village where the Kroos live, 
while on the beach are generally a few sleek 
looking little cattle, Kroo men and women, 
and a number of canoes, the latter drawn out 
i of the water and resting bottom up. A little 
further up past this beach the green trees and 
wild Indiarubber vines again come down to 
the water, which here is placid and clear, 
bending over and almost sweeping it. Under 
the roots of the trees the water has worn 
away the soil, leaving the reddish looking 
stones bare. Some of these trees are valu¬ 
able, among them being cam wood. Past 
this, and a few yards further up, the water 
runs in again, forming a shallow little bay, 
and we see 

THE TOWN OE MONROVIA, 


looking picturesque and pretty, straggling up 
tfie hills, and the scattering houses only half 
seen through trees and undergrowth. Along 
the waterside are a few large stone buildings, 
apparently warehouses. In the shallow water 
is moored a cutter of probably twenty tons, 
bearing the name of the “Enterprise '.' 1 ’ But 
her hull gapes in unseemly seams, her mast 
looks dry and decayed, and a few ropes hang 
rotting about her. She is secured by a rusty 
chain to the decayed and sunken stern of a 
craft of about her own size, the remainder of 
which is out of sight. Another similar craft 
1 ies just above anchored by another rusty chain. 
On the shore are one or two large row boats 
bottom up, another lies half in and half out of 
the water,and on another, mounted on trestles, 
a black man is sleepily hammering. An iron 
wharf runs out from one landing, and from 
another is built one of stone—both w ith weeds 
and grass growing over and about them. 

1 here is hardly a sound of life, and we see no 
moving thing except, a cow or two, a few 
Kroo children, and the inevitable and 
ubiquitous mongrel dog. We pull up to a 
small landing and disembark. (> u out¬ 
right here is a dark, empty-looking- 
stone warehouse, and the ground is trodden 
:£ r< ?’ except a fevv desultory grass patches. 
Lo the left Oi this house stands a huge cotton 
tree, around whose root is wrapped a few 
coils of rusty chain. On either side the 
landing is a shallow muddy slip in which 
rest two or three boats similar to the one we 
came in. U nder the cotton tree stands a group 
of four or five tolerably well dressed men and 
boys who regard us curiously. A few steps up 
the landing, and we reach four heavy 
partially dismantled stone walls, the remnants 
b ' ,rned warehouse. Then, walking 
fcinglc file m a narrow path through the 
thickly clustering wild verbena growing from 
three to six feet high, we climb the hill over 
oose stones, and through occasional streaks 
of wet mud, caused by the trickling of sonic 

« Lf r r\ 0nt °P l>HI we tied a* 

bioad street grown over with grass, with 
cattle grazing m it, through which runs 

mntowqp pat A h ’ jusfc wide enough for one 
man to walk in. As wc went on, I noticed 
























20 


the houses—generally stone—on either side, t 
Alajiy of them had windows broken and ' 
gaping, and all showed sad need of repairs. 
Nearly every yard, like the street, was grown j 
up in rank vegetation. On every side was 
the very 

ABOMINATION OB DESOLATION. 

We did not meet, a soul in the streets. Then 
we went to breakfast with dark forebodings 
of the character of the country. At this j 
breakfast I repeated that novel experience of 
sitting at the table with colored folks. It 
struck me as curious that in a country whose 
vegetation is so exuberant that it is impossi¬ 
ble to keep it out of the streets, (that being 
the reason assigned in answer to my inquiries 
as to the existence of the previously men¬ 
tioned condition of “no thoroughfare,”) that 
everything composing the first meal 1 saw 
there should be imported. So it was, how¬ 
ever. A piece of fresh fish, and the colfee were 
the only Liberian products on the table. The 
meat, the oysters and the vegetables were all 
canned goods from England. More of this 
too, hereafter. After breakfast, through the 
same paths, through the same streets and by 
the same dilapidated houses, we visited the 
American Consul. The position is held here 
by Mr. M. A. Aenmy, a Hollander, who ful¬ 
fils its duties pending the appointment of a 
successor to J. Milton Turner, colored, the 
former consul, who has resigned and gone 
home. Our next, expedition was to the cus¬ 
tomhouse, the entrance to which is on the 
main street. This 

“NO THOROUGH FAKE,” 

could be made a very handsome one by the ! 
expenditure of a little time, labor and 
money. It is broad and straight, and 

runs through the town to the Light¬ 
house on the Cape. Monrovia, in fact, 1 

seems to have been quite well laid off origi- j 
nally. The streets are all broad and appear i 

to intersect each other at the proper angles 

and distances. The original settlers seem to 
have had a care for that decency which Addi¬ 
son tells us is so nearly akin to virtue, for 
nearly all of the ohl houses arc two story 
ones, well built of stone or brick, and 
arranged with an eye to architectural beauty, 
and about most of them were once neat stone 
fences surrounding large yards and gardens. 
These buildings are, however, fast, going to 
rack and ruin, and the more modern, though 
hardly less dilapidated, edifices are of wood, 
and look what I would imagine to be an 
artistic architect’s nightmare. The present 
condition of the streets I have already 
told you. Monrovia has between 2,000 | 
and 3,000 inhabitants, and straggles over j 
about a mile from the head of the Cape in¬ 
land, extending about half way across (about 
half a mile) on the side opposite to which we | 
landed. The town stops down in the woods i 
somewhere. I walked across once, and found 
the dense growth of banana, cocoanut, 
mango, cotton and other trees, and under¬ 
growth, which is termed here “the bush,” I 


terminating abruptly at the ragged back 
fcuces of the neighborhood. 

THE CUSTOMHOUSE 

was originally intended to be quite a hand¬ 
some building, being of brick, with a deep 
porch, having high pillars supporting an 
upper portico, and being neatly divided off 
into the various olfiees. Nature here has done 
her best to conceal the original ugliness, and 
the neglect-fathered increase thereof, of 
man's handiwork, and at a distance this struc¬ 
ture looks very well. Going from the main 
street through an opening in a low stone wall, 
which surrounds a park about the size of a 
block in one of our American cities, the vis¬ 
itor approaches the Customhouse on what was 
a long, narrow brick walk, but is now a mere 
succession of stumbling-blocks and pitfalls. 
On his right., at the corner of the park stands 
the Courthouse, a square brick building, 
about twenty by twenty, with number¬ 
less panes out of its windows, weather- 
stained and generally indigent looking, as if 
tbe firm formerly doing business there under 
the name and style of Law & Equity had 
gone into bankruptcy and left, the property in 
the hands of a neglectful assignee. The visi¬ 
tor ambles over the “walk” aforesaid, (“stum¬ 
ble” would be a more appropriate name for 
it,) and has time to cast a moralizing eye oq 
the weeds and grass on either side of him. 
Some handsome trees branch over his head, 
and drip cold drops of rain water down the 
back of his shirt collar. Passing another open¬ 
ing he crosses an open space and reaches the 
Customhouse. As he has already learned to 
suspect, he finds the brick floors of the portico 
sunken or projecting, the plastering falling 
and the glass broken. The business is all 
transacted in one room, and is quickly got¬ 
ten through with, the ollicers bei ng" of 
average intelligence, and apparently dis¬ 
posed to be accommodating and business¬ 
like, which is a wonder, considering 
how little business there is to do. Then the 
oflicial business disposed of, we stumbled back 
down hill to the water side, there being 
neither restaurant nor hotel in Monrovia. I 
forgot to chronicle that half way up the stum¬ 
ble which leads through the park there is a 
plain neat marble slab to the memory of some 
Liberian hero, which stands in just such a 
position that the unwary wayfarer may bark 
his shins and smash his features there against. 
I beg leave to apologise to the readers of 
The News and Courier for omitting to wind 
up this description of Monrovia with a ([nota¬ 
tion from “the deserted village.” The fact is, 
however, that there are no books of “familiar 
quotations” or copies of Goldsmith accessi¬ 
ble here. Besides that it is impossible to 
imagine Monrovia as having ever been the 
loveliest village of the plain—especially as it. 
is built on a hill. Apropos of this absence of 
Goldsmith, I would remark here a lamentable 
fact. In none of the many houses that I 
visited in Liberia did I see a book worthy of 
the name except the Bible. It is literally true 














30 


that, with the exception of that, and a few 
school hooks, a hyinn book or two, a small 
medical library, and a couple of those familiar 
Sunday school novels, (those cowardly intro¬ 
ducers' of a very few grains of flabby morality 
in an inferior sugar coating of flabbier senti¬ 
ment and diluted sensation,) I did not see a 
book, or an apology for a book, of any sort. 

THE LITERAIir TASTE OF THE LIE BRIANS 

seems to have expended itself in photograph 
albums, of which there are two or three or 
four or five to be found on every parlor table, 
the spaces intended for pictures gaping like 
open mouths. I really believe that much of 
the wonderful inertness of the people pro¬ 
ceeds from the utter lack of intellectual food. 
It seems as though no book at all were worse 
than the bad one, than which, Lord Bacon 
says, there is no worse robber. There are very 
few books from which some idea or informa¬ 
tion may not be extracted. I noticed that the 
supply of newspapers was also very limited. 

1 here were a few copies of the London 
papers, but America seemed almost entirely 
represented by the Washington Republican , 
the Toledo Blade, and The News ani> 
Courier, which proves that some other things 
besides poverty make strange bed-fellows. 
We learned ashore, much to our relief, that 
having some ten days’ notice of the arrival of 
the emigrants through the newspapers, the 
Liberiau government had made arrangements 
to receive them. 1 will say for the ‘Mo'nro- 
vians that they seem to have actively aided 
the government in this matter. So, more by 
t he mercy of Providence than good manage¬ 
ment on the part of the L. E. A. the emi- 
granls were 

ASSURED OF A SIIELTEH 

for a time at least. This was especially wel¬ 
come as the rainy season has just set in. If 
these poor people had been left to the tender 
mercies of the managers in Charleston, they 
would have arrived here unannounced, un¬ 
expected and unprovided for, and many of 
them without means, and their condition 
would have been deplorable indeed. When 
we returned to the Azov we were, of course, 
eagerly plied with questions, the kindest pos¬ 
sible answers to which were that we had as 
yet seen nothing, and could judge of nothing. 

1 confess that in rny own mind J had grave 
misgivings. From what I could sec, the land 
seemed anything but a Canaan. George Curtis 
had also gone ashore, and returned with glow¬ 
ing accounts of the feed he had had. Before 
lie went he had set on foot 

A PLOT 

to hamper and injure the L. E. A., by whom 
lie was sent out. He, ex-Senator Gaillard, 
Clement irons, Rev. S. F. Flegler and Jack- 
son Clark hud been appointed a board of com¬ 
missioners to attend to all the allairs of the 
steamship company and its emigrations on 
tins side. I he ex-senator was elected chair¬ 
man ol the board, and on arrival here Curtis, 
who had anticipated the chairmanship, 


seceded, and formed a new board among the 
steerage passengers, of which he had himself 
elected chairman. Hastening ashore, be an¬ 
nounced himself as the head of the immigra¬ 
tion by virtueof his chairmanship, and on the 
strength of his suppositious official capacity 
was invited to sundry “feeds,” and regaled 
upon the fat of the land. He went ashore 
again before night, with his wife. Before 
i taking the reader ashore again, I will give 
some general information regarding this 

NEW “LAND OF PROMISE.” 

Liberia lies on the west coast of Africa 
! between the 4th and 7th parallels of latitude, 
jj and the 7t.h and 12t h meridians of longitude. ] 
Her territory runs along the coast for about [ 
600 miles, at a depth varying from 45 to 150 
miles, the land having been generally ae- ! 
quired by purchase from the natives. The i 
inhabitants consist of colored immigrants j|| 
from America and their descendants, ! 
variously estimated in number from 8,000 to i : 
20,000, there being no reliable census. From I 
the best information I could get, I am in- t 
clined to think that they number from i 
I 12,000 to 15,000, and that they have about 
I held their ov*n with probably a very slight 
increase. Besides these there are a few 1 
native Africans taken from captured slave 
: ships and brought here, uncivilized detach- | 
meuts of various native tribes, a number of 
j civilized and semi civilized natives scattered 
about among the Ameiico-Liberians, and I 
about a dozen white men, generally traders. 

| The Government is called a Republic, and is, 
j its general features, about In the form of 
our State Governments, there being a presi- 
i dent, vice-president, secretary of State, ditto i 
; of the treasury, attorney-general, comptroller 
inn! auditor. r I hese ollicers compose the I 
Cabinet, like our National one. The Republic 

is divided into four counties—Montserrado of i 
which Monrovia is the capital; Grand Bassa, 
of which Buchanan is the capital; Siuoe, of 
which Greenville is the capital, and Maiyland, 
of which 1 laiper is the capital—each having 
its own local government. The towns ate 
governed by municipal officers, just as ours 
are. Monrovia, which is named after ex- 
1 icsident of the Luited States Monroe, is the 
capital of the country, although Grand Bassa. 
which is situated south of it on the coast is 
j said to greatly surpass it in the amount of 
business done. Each county elects four dele¬ 
gates to the National Legislature, and two 
senators, except Montserrado, which elects 
i ^ iree of the latter. The Congress, or Legisla¬ 
ture, is, therefore, composed of sixteen repre¬ 
sentatives and nine senators. The Vice-Presi- 
I Jent presides over the Senate, and the lower ' 
house elects its own chairman. Every head of 
a family is given by the Government twenty- 
five acres of land, and each male adult ten 
acres, selected from any unallotted lands 
Only properly-holdera can vote, after taking the 
with of allegiance. There is no prescribed term 
of residence before becoming a voter. No white 
man can hold property, and that race is, there- 




















31 


fore, disfranchised, which is a practical 
satire on the universal suffrage dogma to 
\v lnoh the American negro and his particular 
friends have ever been so especially devoted. 
Mily on the day next after our arrival 
June 4, ’ 

TUB TWENTY-THIRD DEATH 
occurred, being that of an infant child of 
Ctesar V\ hite, of Edgefield County, S (J 
Later on, during the day, a child (if Rufus 
Clink, of Clarendon, which had been born 
ami had lost its mother on the passage, died. 
The death was not announced to the captain 
the relatives taking the body ashore with 
them, \\ itli the face concealed. This brought 
the total number of deaths aboard to twenty- 
iour. Going on deck after breakfast that 
morning, 1 met a strange colored man with 
whom f entered into conversation. He had 
he said, come out from Lynchburg, Va., just 
after the war. In answer to my inquiries, he 
expressed himself as being delighted with 
the country. In some years, he said, he made 
from $l,:>00 to $2,000 clear. 1 was much 
pleased, being interested in the fate of the 
emigrants. Here was a man, who, from his 
own accounts, had come out with little or no 
capital, and generally very much in the con¬ 
dition of the components of the present emi¬ 
gration, and yet achieved competence and at¬ 
tained the high road to wealth. I was inex¬ 
pressibly gratified and relieved. One more 
question. “What is your occupation ?” I 
asked. “An undertaker was the cheerful re¬ 
sponse. Now this is no fancy incident put in 
here for fun’s sake, but is an actual occur¬ 
rence. That day 

THE EMIGRANTS BEGAN TO DISEMBARK 
in large row r boats furnished by the Govern¬ 
ment. Each family generally took with it its 
immediate personal ellects, such as bedding, 
Ac. Most of them arrayed themselves in 
their Sunday best to go ashore in, although a 
few adhered to the somewhat dilapidated, 
and, frequently, uncleanly habilaments iu 
which they had made the voyage. For gene¬ 
ra! information, and for the satisfaction of the 
friends of the parties, I will give here 

THE LIST OF PERSONS LANDED, 

which is as follows: 

William Adams, aged 26, Lancaster, 8. C., 
farmer and carpenter, and w ife. 

1 Scott Bailey, aged 29, Lancaster, S. C., 
farmer and shoemaker, wife and four.chihlrcn. 

Robert Monger, Lancaster, 8. C., aged 38, 
farmer, wife, grown son and five children. 

Okra Adams, aged 42, Ninety-Six, 8. C., 
fanner, wife and two children. 

Robert and Faith Bishop, aged respectively 
20 and 17, Ninety-Six, S. C. ; farmers. 

Levi Graham, aged 22, Ninety-Six, S. C., 
farmer, and wife. 

James Johnson, aged 20, Ninety-Six, 8. C., 
farmer, wife, mother and four children. 

Moses Mason, aged 49, Ninety-Six, 8. C., 
farmer and carpenter, son with wife and one 

child. 

Matt Matthewes, aged 45, Ninety-Six, S. 


i C., farmer and shoemaker, wife, two grown 
j sons and two children. 

Joshua Phillips, aged 38, Ninety-Six, S. C., 

; farmer and carpenter, wife, grown son and 
| four children. 

Abram Robinson, aged -, Ninety-Six, 8. 

C., farmer, wife and two children. 

Frank Tolbert, aged 29, Ninety-Six, S. C M 
farmer, wife and five children. 

Ned Wilson, aged 40, Ninety-Six, S. C., 
farmer, wife, two grown sons, one grown 
(laughter and five children. 

John Bell, aged 65, Selma, Ala., wife, 
grown son, grown daughter and four chil¬ 
dren. 

Green Barr, aged 34, Augusta, Ga., hatter, 
wife and one child. 

George Shaw, aged 31, Augusta, Ha., ma- 
chiuist and farmer, wife, two children and 
father (the latter aged 00.) 

Simon Ware, aged 58, Augusta, Ga., far¬ 
mer, and wife. 

Win. Willhight, aged 37, Augusta, Ga.. 
mer, and wife. 

Delia Bynes, aged 40, Burke County, Ga., 
farmer, four grown daughters and five chil¬ 
dren. 

Allen Duval, aged 10, Burke County, Ga., 
farmer, two sisters and their three children. 

Isbam Hughes, aged Burke County, 
Ga., farmer, and wife. 

Lucinda Lodge and Patsy Sherrard, Burke 
County, Ga., farmers, aged respectively 55 
and 34 years. 

Rachael Williams, aged 47, Burke County, 
Ga., widow, (husband died on voyage,) three 
grown daughters and three children. 

Thomas Williams, aged 47, Burke County, 
Ga., farmer. 

Herbert Williams, aged 20, Burke County, 
Ga., farmer, with one brother and one sister. 

Simon Williams, aged 22, Burke County, 
Ga., farmer, and two children. 

Berrian Williams, aged 24, Burke County, 
Ga., farmer, and wife. 

Robert Williams, aged 55, Burke County, 
Ga., farmer, three grown sons and one child. 

Wm. Adams, asred 50, Burke County, Ga., 
farmer. 

John Young, aged 36, Burke County, Ga., • 
wife, grown daughter and two children. 

Ned Clark, aged 23, Clarendon County, 

S. C., farmer, wife and two children. 

James Clark, aged 70, same, farmer, wife 
and child. 

Jackson Clark, aged 32, same, farmer, wife 
and four children. 

Alexander Clark, aged 35, same, farmer, 
five children. 

Rufus Clark, aged 38, same, farmer, wife, 
grown son, two grown daughters and three 
children. 

Joseph Clark, aged 00, same, farmer, wife 
and child. 

Moses Hilton, aged 01. same, farmer, and 
wife. 

Frederick Robinsou, aged 33, same, fanner, 
and wife. 












32 


Scott Daniels, aged 24, Barnwell County, 

S. 0., farmer, wife and child. 

Lydia Johnson, aged 70, Barnwell County, 

8. C. 

Moss Stevens, aged 28, Barnwell County, 

8. C., farmer, wife and four children. 

Howell Tyler, aged 50, same, farmer, wife, 
two grown sons and two children. 

Abraham Tyler, aged 27, same, farmer, wife 
and two children. 

8. F. Flegler, Charleston, minister of the 
Gospel. 

W. J. Moultrie, Charleston, aged 23, and 
wife. 

Thaddeus Middleton, aged 68, Charleston 
County, 8. C., farmer, and wife. 

Fompey Green, aged 49, Charleston, trades¬ 
man, wife and tw r o children. 

8. E. Gaillard, aged 38, Charleston, S. C., 
machinist aud tradesman, wife and four chil¬ 
dren. 

Clement Irons, aged 50, Charleston, mill¬ 
wright, wife and live children. 

Geo. Curtis (no particular age, occupation 
or hailing place) and wife. 

Eliphas Killick, Florida, grown daughter 
and child. 

Spencer Reeves, aged 60, Aiken County, 8. 
C., farmer, wife, four grown sons, daughter- 
in-law and child. 

Boatswain Slegler, aged 57, Edgefield 
County, 8. C., farmer, wife and three children. 

Jackson Smallwood, aged-, same, far¬ 

mer, wife, two grown daughters, one grown 
son and four children. 

Caesar White, aged 31, Edgefield County, 
farmer, wife and four children. 

Alfred Hood, aged 39, Charlotte, N. C., 
farmer, wife, two grown sons and one child. 

Total number of souls landed 252. 

Born during voyage 2, died 24. Total 
number started 274. 

1 have always had a vague idea that an 
organization of insane tailors exists some¬ 
where, the especial object of which is to 
furnish clothing for the Southern country 
darkey, and i know of no other hypothesis to 
account for the astounding results in the 
matter of lit, and cut, with which the colored 
brother is wont to adorn himself on festivals 
and high days. As I before hinted, the emi¬ 
grants brought out such specimens of antede- 
1 11 vian architecture and enveloped themselves 
therein preparatory to 

ASTONISHING TUB NATIVES. 

By several neat tacks, the Azov had been 
brought close into shore, and one by one her 
passengers went over the sides which had 
confined them so long, disposing themselves 
as snugly as possible among the baggage in 
the boats, amid a vast deal of vociferous 
sweating and gabbling from the Kroomen. 
i in; Liberians had somehow become pos¬ 
sessed with the idea that the Azov’s people i 
wore generally independent capitalists, corning 
out, to invest their funds in the country, i 
Consequently there was some disappointment I 
at the appearance of the emigrants, which, I 


; to put it mildly, was not suggestive of wealth, 
i They were well received and welcomed at the 
i landing, however, and immediately conducted 
to the houses prepared for their reception in 
different parts of town, what furniture they 
had along being borne on the heads of Kroo 
boys. Whatever else may be said of the Mon- 
rovians, they certainly displayed great kind¬ 
ness to the strangers, who were in many in- 
[ stances utterly destitute of provisions, send- 
i ing them cooked meals and delicacies for the 
sick liberally and continuously. In this j 
i way only was suffering avoided. During 
! Tuesday and Wednesday the emigrants were 
being transported from the Azov, the last 
leaving Wednesday afternoon, except ex-Sen- 
ator Gaillard, whose family remained aboard ' 
in consequence of one of his children being 
down with the measles, lie and his three! 
loyal commissioners had, however, not been 
idle, having been hard at work assisting the * 
Liberian commissioner in arranging for the 
emigrants, and 

mHI 

COUNTERMINING GEORGE CURTIS. 

This latter was so successfully done that 
that ancient reprobate was shortly left wit h¬ 
out “a leg to stand upon,” bis adherents de- 
l sorting him in a body. A general visit among 
the emigrants on Wednesday showed that 
they were tolerably comfortable. None of 
their provisions had yet come ashore, but the 
kindness of the Monrovia people kept them j 
supplied. This was no light matter by the] 
way, as provisions are fearfully high and 
! hard to get. The people in the country seem 
never to think of producing anything to eat, 
beyond their own immediate wants, and! 
hardly that. Although there seems to be ( 
plenty of cattle, they are usually owned by; 
the natives, who never kill them unless they 
are obliged to do so, as cattle, wives, brass 
kettles and iron bars serve them just as! 
bonds, stocks and real estate do European or 
American moneyed men, as permanent invest¬ 
ments, and outward and visible signs of 
wealth. Cassada, the great staple of the 
country, sells at 50c. per bushel, a bushel ofj; 
the roots being about equal to a bushel of • 
sweet potatoes; yams sell at the same price. 
Fresh meat is almost impossible to get. Even 
chickens are exceedingly scarce, and very 
small ones sell at 25c. each. Eggs are 3e.l| 
apiece by the dozen. American flour is $14 
per barrel. American pork is $28 per barrel.' 
English canned meats and vegetables are 50c.U 
per can. Onions (English) bring 12c. per 11 
pound. That is about all the Monroviau bill 11 
of fare, and it is largely procured from Eng) 1 * 
lisli mail steamers which nominally pass h 
twice a week. Even in the country they live 
largely on " S in 

IMPORTED FOOD. Sjitl 

T ^ • . . ■ % 

In answer to inquiries on the subject I was ) 
fold that it was supposed that beets, carrots,L 
parsnips, onions, peas, beans, potatoes, &c., l 
would grow there, but they had never tried JjL 
Everybody coincided in my expressions oik 
wonder, and everybody re-echoed the set 

















I 


phrase, “Yes, it ought to be done, but you see 
what we lack here is enterprise; enterprise, 
sir, new blood and capital would make this 
country one of the greatest in the world. Our 

resources, sir,”-. It seems to me I’ve 

heard something of that sort down South in 
Dixie. The contrast between Liberia and 
Sierra Leone strikes one forcibly and hourly, 
hut in nothing more than in the matter of 
food. In the latter place we procured an 
abundance of all fresh meats, fruits and vege¬ 
tables cheaply. There is a large, brisk look¬ 
ing market, and nice crisp looking loaves of 
bread sell on the streets at a penny. In Libe¬ 
ria there is no fresh meat (denominated 
“fresh.”) Hard raking for two weeks pro¬ 
cured us about four dozen chiekeus (marvels of 
lankness,) which the steward always 
dispatched with trembling eagerness to 
prevent dissolution from inanition, as they 
always seemed on the very verge of it 
when brought aboard. Monrovia sends sixty 
miles down the coast to Grand Bassa for 
fowls 1 Vegetables it was impossible to get, 
and although mangoes, delicious pineapples, 
oranges, bananas, lemons, limes, cocoanuts, 
bread fruit, butter pears, soursaps, and other 
fruits may be had for the gathering almost 
anywhere, they were scarce and high. Under 
these conditions, and as few' of the emigrants 
had any means to speak of, and many were 
entirely without funds, it will be seen that, 
they ran a great risk of being without food 
altogether. People more poorly provisioned 
and fitted out fora struggle with the difficul¬ 
ties of a strange country it would be hard to 
imagine. Many of them had absolutely no 
money at all, except the I O U notes, stock 
and receipts of the “Steamship” Company, 
w hich are not worth their paper here. \\ hen 
at last the provisions were gotten ashore and 
divided, (a work which by needless delavs in 
transportation was spun out over a week's 
time,) it was found that there were 

BARELY THREE WEEKS’ PROVISIONS 

around. Every passenger of the Azor had 
paid, besides his or her passage money, for 
^.provisions for a month’s voyage, and six 
months’ provisions after arrival here. After 
a forty-two days’ journev, with the replen¬ 
ishing at Sierra Leone, there were barely 
three weeks’ scanty provisions left, including 

all of the ship’s stores, which Capt. Holmes 
turned over to them, and the stores belong¬ 
ing to those put ashore in Charleston. 1 here 
has been foul play somewhere. The money 
, that these people paid to buy food with, for 
w hich they have receipts, generally signed by 
the Rev. B. F. Porter, has been misappropri- 
| ated. In fact, it has been difficult to con- 
*ccive what has been done with the fuims, 
I which seem to have been wrung from them 
C' by all imaginable devices. I will give an in¬ 
stance of this, as showiDg the modu* operandx. 
In looking over the papers held by the W U- 
liarns family from Burke County, Ga., one oi 




the heads of which died on the voyage, I find 
the following receipts : 

Mitchell Williams, (deceased,) 


Provisions.$ 70 CO 

Provisions. 60 00 

Provisions. 60 00 

Provisions. 90 00 

Share iu grist mill. 33 20 

Dry goods. 120 (X) 

Due bill. 5 00 

Due hill. 10 00 

Stock. 110 00 


Total.$558 20 


For this the widow has the stock, the dry 
goods, about fifteen dollars’ worth of provi¬ 
sions, and the papers. There has beeu no 
sign of any grist mill. This is but a fair sam¬ 
ple of many similar instances. This Williams 
family paid in and have receipts for $1,441 65 
in cash for the bringing over of thirty-six per¬ 
sons, many being children, and would he in a 
starving condition had they not some other 
little means. The “Steamship company” 
seems to have 

REMORSELESSLY DRAINED 

these people, having actually started some of 
them off in a penniless condition. This, with 
the criminal neglect which allowed the emi¬ 
grants to come over at the beginning of the 
rainy season, for all they knew unan¬ 
nounced, without physician or shelter, makes 
matters look very black. It savors strongly 
of criminal misappropriation of funds and 
breach of trust, or of more criminal careless¬ 
ness regarding the lives and welfare of a band 
of helpless people who relied on them, by the 
officers of the “Steamship company.” Many 
of the buildings occupied by the passengers 
were dwellings which had apparently beeu 
long vacant, and had become leaky, exposing 
the occupants to the rain, which in this sea¬ 
son pours down almost every day. After the 
first day or two, however, the roofs were 
patched up so as to render them tolerably 
water-tight. The health of most of the 
sick begau to improve as soon as 
they got free from the rolling 
and confinement of the ship. Some of those, 
however, who had suffered from measles, now 
became subject to a general swelling up of 
their limbs, which was annoying and painful. 
There is only one regular physician in this 
part, of Liberia, and his practice is extended 
certainly in point of space, as he visits from 
twenty miles up the St. Paul’s River and 
down to this place. He is a young colored 
man. a graduate, I think, of Harvard, and dis¬ 
played much kindness in sending medicines, 
food, ifcc., gratuitously, to the strangers, and 
in visiting them whenever called. All during 
Wednesday and Thursday, and for several 
days thereafter, the emigrants (now immi¬ 
grants) were busily engaged at the landing 
identifying their furniture and other effects, 
and superintending their transportation by 
the Kroo boys to their houses. There are 
























34 


NO HORSES IN LIBERIA, 

although I am informed that they are abund¬ 
ant and cheap in the interior. The Azov's 
people turned up their noses (figuratively 
speaking) at the statement that horses will 
not live here, and declared their belief that ! 
they only lacked proper attention. Inquiry I 
on the subject leads me to coincide somewhat 
in their opinion. From all I can learn, what 1 


few equines were here in years gone by were 
left to shift for themselves about the streetsl 
just as the cattle and hogs are now. What, 
seems to be the universal principle obtaining 
in regard to them—“a thing that won’t grow 
itself, and take care of itself, is’nt wanted.”! 
I he cattle show the effects of this system 
being ail undersized, and although sleek ami 
fat, having tasteless flesh, the result of 
feeding on coarse grass and weeds and noth¬ 
ing else. 


V 

pi 


fin 









CHAPTER V. 


■iGIir AM) SHADE IN LIBERIA-VAST NATURAL RICHES AND A SHIFT- 

LL. I ill, MLEI INC TO WELCOME THE EMIGRANTS_ 

SENSIBLE ADVICE-OFFICE-HOLDERS VERSUS OFFICE-SEEKERS— 
CLEMEN I IRONS TALKS BUSINESS-THE LIBERIAN ARMY AND 
NAVY-UP THE ST. PAUL'S-TIIE KROOMEN-VIE TOWN-AN HON¬ 
EST PEOPLE—FAMILIAR NAMES—GORGEOUS SCENES ON THE RIV- 
- ERS-AN EARLY SETTLEMENT-THE FAUNA AND FLORA-IIOW TO 
GROW RICH BY COFFEE-GROWING—MAMMOTH COTTON-TREES 
THAI NEED NO REPLANTING—NOTES AND INCIDENTS. 


Monrovia, Liberia, June 17, 1878.—In 
ray last letter, I described the landing of the 
emigrants and the appearance of Monrovia. 
On Friday, June 7, two days after the dis¬ 
embarkation, a meeting of welcome was held 
in the dilapidated Temple of Justice, already 
mentioned. 

r About seventy-five of the townspeople, and 
a fair sprinkling of those to be welcomed, 
were present. Capt. Holmes, Rev. R. J. Kel¬ 
logg, the newly arrived superintendent of the I 
Mourovian High School, and I, the only repre- j 
sentatives of the Anglo-Saxon present, sat in : 
a row like three white crows, the color of the ! 
assemblage shading off from our white skins, 
through octoroon, quadroon arid various other 
“roons” to the pure ebony. The component 
parts thereof were generally about as well 
dressed, and gave promise of about as much 
intelligence, as a similar gathering of the dear 
people in A meriea. The mayor of the town 
(black) presided, sitting behind the judge’s 
desk. The secretary (light) read the pro¬ 
ceedings of the previous town meeting, and 
Rev. A. C. Pittman, a black man, was intro¬ 
duced as 

THE ORATOR OF THE OCCASION, 
i He spoke well, correctly and fluently, and 
without the superfluity of language and ges¬ 
ture common with the colored speaker. He 
said that not only Monrovia, not only Liberia, 
but the entire continent of Africa was to-day 
stretching out a hand to welcome these ar¬ 
rivals. lie rejoiced with his whole heart to 
see these times, when in spite of all opposition 


light and intelligence were coming in. He 
was glad to see so many individuals volun¬ 
tarily seeking their fatherland. He bid the 
immigrants and their friends a hearty “wel¬ 
come !” They were greeted as brethren aud 
friends. They were welcomed as individuals 
willing to contribute each his quota towards 
sustaining the principles laid down by the 
fathers. It remained to them all, he said, to 
Prove whether they were true to the times. 
The black race had its chance then and there. 
They could not plead hereafter that they had 
not had the same chances as other men. Fur¬ 
ther on, he remarked that Liberia’s friends 
had done her great harm by painting her in 
too bright colors. Then he went on to say 
that Liberia afforded a refuge aud asylum 
from degradation and oppression. When Li¬ 
berians welcomed their brethren it was be¬ 
cause they expected them by individual and 
united effort to assist in the elevation of their 
race, by elevating t hemselves by honest labor. 
If they had other ideas, they had better stay 
and die in America. [Applause.] Their mis¬ 
sion was to stamp on the world’s history that 
black men were men. [Applause.] The col¬ 
ored people were a religious people, and he 
welcomed them to help in building up the 
Church of God. Liberia was ^ 

THE OPEN DOOR TO HEATHEN AFRICA, 

and a nobler work than her people had before 
them was never given to man. They were 
the lump of leaven which, with God’s help, 1 
would leaven the whole. Men were wanted, jj 
he continued, who would work. They werej 








♦ 


36 


not. wanted for presidents and legislators. 

| Great applause—particularly among the oflice- 
holuers.] Men were wanted who would and 
could work! lie was glad to see eo many 
working men. They were .the kind wauted. 
Then, he said, if this effort was to succeed, 
there must be harmony and peace. There 
should not and would not be factions. |A 
very palpable hit at the Communistic Curtis 
who sat on the platform.] He, the speaker, 
was a pure African. None of., his ancestors 
had ever been to America. [Laughter.] He 
felt entitled therefore to reiterate that Africa, 
as well as Liberia, cordially welcomed the 
brethren. A preamble and resolution was 
then presented and adopted declaring that, 
whereas the baik Azov containing the first 
company of those voluntarily fleeing “social 
ostracism and political oppression,” had ar¬ 
rived in port, that the meeting 

IJAII.El) THEIR ARRIVAL 

with pleasure and gave them the right hand 
of fellowship, welcoming them as fellow- 
workers. Nobody had said anything to Geo. 
Curtis, but that pirate appeared like a jack- 
in-the-box or a persevering Banquo’s ghost, 
and proceeded to speak, his remarks being 
largely devoted to a biographical sketch of 
himself. He “put his foot in it” most beauti¬ 
fully in the first place by announcing him- j 
self as an Englishman, and therefore a lover 
of liberty, as it is part of the Liberian creed 
to hate England and her people with a holy 
hatred, lie then proceeded to give a sketch 
of the Exodus movement, which the audi¬ 
ence had previously read in The News and 
Courier. God’s hand was evident in it, he 
said. It was nothing short of a miracle. The 
people brought over were not seeking to es¬ 
cape from labor. They knew that they 
would have to labor. But every lick they 
struck here would be for themselves, and 

NOT FOR THE WHITE MAN. 

[Applause.] They had come to elevate them¬ 
selves and their children, which they could 
not do in the presence of the master race. 
They desired to he where they could assert 
their manhood. They had brought two hun¬ 
dred and odd working people to develop the 
resources of the country, and would bring 
thousands more—not only of laborers, but of 
skilled laborers—men whose masters had 
taught them trades to make them profitable 
Servants. r i hose were the jewels they had 
brought out of Egypt. [Applause.J The 
white men took good care that no more 
negioes should learn trades and mechanics, 
hut, thank God, they couldn’t take them 


away from those who had already acquired 
them. He, the speaker, did not hate the 
white race. There were good as well as bad 
white men. The white men could have 
crushed this movement in its infancy had 
they chosen, but they refrained. He thanked 
them for that. The white man in the South 
at present occupied 

THE POSITION OF JAILER, 
lie was degraded by his office, which kept 
him constantly in contact with a subject race, 
which he had to keep down. This movement 
would render him a great service. It would 
leave him to be a homogeueous race. Then 
('unis revealed the blood iu his eye. He said 
that he had found this a good country. There 
were those who had said that no chickens 
could be obtained here. He had had chicken 
for dinner every day. [Laughter.] This was a 
blow—a foul blow—at the Captain and I, who 
bad complained of the lack of poultry. But, 
thank Heaven, what he and his people would 
send back would outweigh by thousands any 
adverse reports that might be sent back by 
any one (a slash at me, emphasised by a tragic 
scowl.) They didn’t believe that this was a 
God-forsaken country as that Reporter (me 
again) had already said. On the contrary, 
they believed it to he a God-blessed country 
and the people would come. He himself had 
started from Charleston with eighty cents, 
and arrived here with sixpence, but he did 
not expect to starve. Heaven had already 
helped him. That very morning a gentleman, 
Mr. Kellogg, had presented him, unsolicited, 
with a five dollar bill. Then he had read an 
apparently very badly written and ungrammat¬ 
ical letter from somebody in New Orleans 
“and 1,800 others,” declaring that the entire 
1,801 had kissed his photograph, and inci¬ 
dentally mentioning that they would probably 
have a cargo and boat ready to leave that 
port for Liberia in January. 

curtis’s floating utopia. 

He then passionately addressed the audi- J 
mice with the assurance that if they would } 
help him, he (Curtis) would promise by Jan¬ 
uary to have an independent steamboat run¬ 
ning, loaded with Liberians and Liberian pro¬ 
duce, owned by Liberians, matmed by Libe¬ 
rians and commanded by Liberians, (terrific 
stress on “commanded,” being evidently a 
parting slap at the Captain.) ’This floating 
Utopia did not seem to meet with very great 
favor, and I feel safe in prophesying that it 
will meet with the fate of all other Utopias, 
and come to naught, especially as Curtis stock 
is considerably below par in Monrovia. 1 was 
immensely amused at the malice displayed by 
this individual in treasuring up and exaggera¬ 
ting some careless remark made by me under 
the sense of injury induced by having to eat 
salt meat while lying in port. 

As before stated, he hated and was hated 
by everybody aboard, but I came in for a 
special share of disfavor some how or other. 
But 1 was amazed to observe the blackest 
sorts of looks directed at me from all parts of 




















37 


the room, and to observe sundry whisperings 
of which I was evidently the subject. At 
that moment the Monrovia militia 'company 
hied out on the green, and mv surmise was 
that I was to be immediately taken out and 
summarily shot as a detainer of “the finest 
country the sun shines on.” The execution 
was suspended a while, however, and 

liEV. S. P. FLEGLEK, 

of Charleston, came forward, and spoke at ! 
some length. The main point of his address : 
was that he felt, for the first time in his life, ! 
that he \\ as at home—that he was where he 
belonged. For the first time, he could ! 
breathe freely, because he could look around 
and realize that he was the equal in every 
way of every other man he saw. [Ap¬ 
plause] Clement irons, of Charleston, 
followed, in a seusible little speech. He ex¬ 
hibited with much pardonable pride a medal 
awarded him at one of the South Carolina 
State fairs for an improvement in cotton gins, j 
and concluded with the shrewd and practical 
remark, “we don’t ask you to give us corn, 
but only to show us Where to grow it.” 
[Applause] 

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL 

(a blatherskite whose name I have forgotten) 
next spoke, lie is an octoroon with long | 
side whiskers, and bears demagogue stamped 
on his face as with a branding iron. Being 
an ollicer-holder himself, he very disinterest- j 
edly advised the immigrants not to come seek- j 
ing offices. What the country needed was : 
not office-seekers but workers. Then he took 
a slight turn at the worthy Curtis, deprecating 
the stirring up of strife in the movement, and 
denouncing those who would create divisions. ; 
I felt somewhat avenged of mine enemy, until j 
the speaker proceeded to make an attack 
upon myself, and all who should hold with I 
me the heresy that this was anything but an j 
eartlily paradise. He concluded with the 
warning to be careful howl wrote, as they 
could write “a little” there too. I expect that 
when he said “a little” be spoke more truly 
iban he intended. I began to be really afraid ! 
from the looks of the audience that Curtis’s ! 
attack would so prejudice them as to serious- j 
ly hamper me in obtaining information. I , 
was therefore extremely obliared to the secre¬ 
tary of the meeting, a light-colored young 
man, when he rose and deprecated the lag- i 
ging of personalities into the meeting, hint- j 
ing at the same time that in his opinion it was j 
not either a very brave or very magnanimous ! 
thing to make an unprovoked attack upon a ; 
gentleman who was a stranger and a visitor, j 
and whose mouth was presumably closed. 

MR. WILLIAMS MAKES A LITTLE SPEECH. j 
lie wound up with the remark that it was a 
free meeting, and that anybody had a right 
to speak. 1 took the hint, and requested the 
immigrants themselves to say whether or no 
Tim News and Courier had not always ! 
given them aud their movement “a fair jl 
show.” Hereupon Curtis again rose and fore- li 


stalled several of the Charlestonians who 
would have contradicted his imputations of 
prejudice,by praising The News and Courier 
and its representative in extravagant terms, 
declaring that he hadn’t meant anything and 
had the most unalterably high regard for 
both. I think that Curtis designed making 
this resemble the closing scene of the 
quarrel between Brutus and Cassius, and from 
bis gestures I expected'every moment to hear 
him break out with: 

“There is my umbrella, 

And here my naked breast; within, a heart, 

If that thou be’st a Koman take it forth.” 

(I will pause to remark that insomuch as 
Cassius was “the hungry Cassius,” I could 
have played the part to perfection almost 
any time during my stay in Monrovia.) No 
reconciliation occurred, however, aud the 
meeting adjourned after several other 
speeches from several other persons, all 
breathing very much the same spirit. It was 
pleasant to note that none of the immigrants 
forgot to pay a well deserved 

TRIRUTE TO CAPT. HOLMES 
and his ollicers. The Captain not only never 
relaxed his efforts to contribute to the com¬ 
fort and safety of his helpless charges while 
aboard, but even after they bad all been 
landed, took every possible means that kind¬ 
ness aud generosity could devise to prevent 
suffering, personally visiting and, as far as 
possible, supplying their wants. It was 
pleasant therefore to see that this was ap¬ 
preciated as we came from the meeting. 

THE MILITIA 

were just being dismissed. The company 
seemed to be composed principally of boys 
and very young men, vastly inferior in arms, 
equipments and drill to the colored military 
in Charleston. They are armed with the 
Snider rifle, and the uniform of the privates 
seems to consist of coarse blue cotton. The 
officers, however, were handsomely uni¬ 
formed. I am told that Liberia claims to be 
able to turn out an army of 3,500 armed 
militia, service being obligatory on every citi¬ 
zen between 15 and 45 years of age. My iu- 
formant also told me that this force (there 
being no standing army) bad done good ser¬ 
vice in the wars with the natives, of which 
there have been several. From all I can learn 
the “wars” seem to consist of a week’s pop¬ 
ping away at long range and a retreat by the 
natives or a treaty. I was told that in the 
last “war” the Liberians had lost thirty men 
killed and wounded. They estimated the 
loss of their adversaries at one thousand. This 
reminded me of some war news that I heard 
between ’61 and ’65. This warfare is one 
reason why immigration is so desired, each 
new arrival contributing to keep the natives 
in the interior, who receive greatly exagge¬ 
rated reports of the numbers, quiet. Having 
told of the army, I may as well mention 

THE navy. 

It consists of a small sailing cutter, not over 















150 ton?, with a few small guns, (mostly six- 
pounders, I believe) attd manned by, what 1 
judge from reports to be, a dilapidated crew. 
On Sunday I went ashore, and succeeded, 
with much difficulty, in arranging for a fre¬ 
quently deferred visit 

up the st. paul’s liver. 

It is due to The News and Courier’s 
readers, as well as to its representative, to ex¬ 
plain that the day was not selected from 
choice, but. under pressure of hard necessity, 
it being the only one on which I could obtain 
boat, crew and companion, (the last being re¬ 
quisite to make the expedition of any use at 
all) and there being a prospect of the Azov 
leaving early in the week. Of course, the 
whole journey to Liberia would have amount¬ 
ed to nothing without some sight of the 
country. As for the Kroomen who rowed, 
they, in all probability, only exchanged that 
exercise for gambling, with which they 
usually occupy Sundays, and, in fact, all of 
their leisure t ime. While waiting at the boat 
l endeavored to obtain some idea of the re¬ 
ligious convictions of these villains, but they 
seem entirely destitute of any such thing. 
When I asked one of them if he ever went io 
church, and, receiving a negative reply, asked 
“Why notV” lie replied: “What Krooman 
want go church for? No make money goin’ 
church. What for want go den, eh ?” 1 
could, therefore, only class them as being 
worshippers of 


THE GREAT AMERICAN GOD GREENBAX, 

oi whom Cheek is said to be the prophet, 
t rom all that J can learn they do not even 
bow down to idols. They seem absolutely 
without any god or any religion, or apology 
tor religion. The only act approaching a rec¬ 
ognition of any superhuman power is the 
suspending around their necks of bones and 
otimr “medicines,” done up in a particularly 
dirty litt le bag. Even this seems less thought 
of than the strings of gaudy glass beads and 
brass or bone rings, which they wear about 
their necks, ankles and wrists. Their whole 
Object in life seems to be to accumulate 
money with which to buy tobacco, cattle, 
women and—(beg pardon, I was on the point 
ot saying other trash,”)—tawdry ornaments. 
All this in despite of long contact with civiliza¬ 
tion. Some few of them have been to school 
and can read and write, while others have 
made voyages to foreign countries. All 
these are more intelligent than their fellows 
and one or two privately told me that they 
didn’t believe in the efficacy of the “medi¬ 
cine,” which they nevertheless wore. These 
educated” ones, too, generally seem dis¬ 
posed to limit themselves to one wife, but 
thny never go to church, use their superior 
knowledge of English chiefly in the more 
correct rendition of English profanity and 
obscenity, and wear no more clothes than 
the others. Their constant exercise at the 
oar gives them beautifully developed arms 
aud chests, but. like other savages, they cover 
them up when they cover anything, and 


I leave exposed to view a set of miserable black 
and scaly looking spindle shanks with the 
well known “parrot heel,” although their 
feet are generally reasonably small. Of honor 
or gratitude they seem to have no conception, 
and they lie by the yard at the drop of a hat. 
Of female purity they have, of course, little 
idea, although they rigorously exact faithful¬ 
ness from their wives, and punish most se¬ 
verely any breach of fidelity. 1 strongly sus¬ 
pect, though, that even this is largely due to 
their appreciation of the commercial value of 
j the females. 

A WIFE IS AN EXPENSIVE AFFAIR 

;! to a Krooman. In the first place he has to 
pav her father for her a certain number of 
cattle, beads, guns, kettles, Ac., the price 
being regulated by the demand. Then with 
each new wife there is some rude marriage 
ceremony, and a grand feast, the principal fea¬ 
ture of which is a large supply of poor rum. 
'i ben the wife has to be decorated as far as 
the means of her husband will go. I saw one 
of these females, presumably a favorite, with 
one leg from the ankle to the knee covered 
with brass rings, several on the other nether 
limb, a few on each arm, and several neck¬ 
laces of beads. These represented a good 
many days’ work, as a. common Krooman’s 
wages are only twenty-five cents per day, the 
head man of a crew getting thirty-eight. The 
Kroo women generally dress in one large 
coarse cotton cloth, made by the natives, 
wrapped around their bodies. If they happen 
to have an infant, the cloth is wrapped about 
t he waist, with the unfortunate looking pic- 
j caninny enveloped in its folds, and tied in 
> front. On this day the conscientious convic- 
l tions of the Kroomen would not allow them 
I to violate the Sabbath for less than a half a 
dollar per diem each, just double wages, i 
was forced to submit to Ibis extortion, and 
I oil we started. Crossing the Mesurado River 
j from Monrovia, we stopped for a few ndu- 
• utes in 

“VEI TOWN,” 

just on the opposite bank. This is the resi¬ 
dence of the Vei tribe, who live there in closely 
built, houses made of interlaced bamboo, pad¬ 
ded with clay, and covered with heavy thatch- 

leaves. J beso houses are generally 
(ii cular in form, and the roofs slope down to 
within five feet of the ground, where they ter¬ 
minate in deep eaves. The inside walls were 
of clay as were the floors, and the general in¬ 
terior was very smoky, there being no chim¬ 
neys. J he buildings are close together, with 
barely room to pass between tiiern. They 
generally have a little covered porch at the 
entiance, however, in which the proprietor is 
to be found on Sundays either standing about 
or swinging in a hammock, while his wife or 
wives (according to his means) sit about in¬ 
side. heseVeirnen are magnificent speci¬ 
mens of manhood, with broad square shoul¬ 
ders, lull chests and well developed limbs 
and are generally tall and erect. On Sunday 
they seem to clothe themselves in European 











3d 




raiment., although on week days they usually 
wear the one garment of large cloth, but 
so draped as to produce an effect not un¬ 
like that of the Roman toga. Their women 
dress very much as the Kroo women do, and 
arc not remarkable for virtue. The Veis 
however, seem immeasurably superior to the’ 
Kroos One of their striking characteristics, I 
am told, is honesty, their laws mercilessly and 
severely punishing any breaches of the Eighth 
Commandment. My informant had in his 
employ a little Vei boy whom, he told me, he 
w-cnild intrust with untold amounts of small 
change. 1 think the Veis are making some 
progress towards civilization. They certainly 
have that appearance. The Liberian Govern¬ 
ment allows these native tribes to have each 
its own magistrate, who tills, in some degree, 
the piosiiion of legal governor or government 
representative among them. They seem gen¬ 
erally to behave themselves tolerably well, 
and to be law-abiding. Then from “Vei 
lown” we rowed up a few yards and en¬ 
tered 

STOCKTON CREEK, 


which here empties into the Mesurado. The 
c reek is a branch of the St. Paul’s, about live 
miles in length. The land opposite Monrovia, 
on which “Vei Town” stands, is Bushrod 
l Island, forming a sort of triangle, bounded on 
the Monrovia side by Mesurado river, above 
‘ by the creek, and on the opposite 6ide by the 
St. Paul, its apex being formed by the fork 
where the creek llows from the river. The 
mouth of the latter is about six miles north 
of Monrovia, (or in the direction of Sierra 
Leone,) where it empties into the sea over a 
heavy bar. Bushrod Island is therefore about 
six miles broad at its base by live long. I 
couldn’t help thinking that it would make 
splendid rice crops, as the tide rises and falls 
on both sides, and the water is fresh within a 
mile from the bar. Such an idea seems never 
to have occurred to anybody in Liberia. 
Stockton creek is a stream of generally uni¬ 
form width, about one hundred and fifty 
yards, I should judge. Its fiow is quiet, and 
its surface placid. On either side it spreads 
away among the roots of the mangove and 
other trees, and through the thick growth of 
“dragon’s blood,” (a plant resembling our 
sword grass, only stronger, sharper and more 
savagely barbed.) The vegetation forms a 
jungle which not even the eye, much less the 
body, can penetrate. The view is varied by 
the feathery tops of the palm, cocoanut, or 
banana; or mango, cotton and other trees, with 
an occasional indiarubber vine drooping from 
the branches. In one or two places the ever 
useful palrn grows in what are apparently plan¬ 
tations. The palm, by the way, is the crest 
of the Liberian coat of arms, being stamped 
on their ugly one and two cent coins. So 
precious is the tree held, that the wanton de¬ 
struction of one is punishable by a fine of $5. 
The view on Stockton Creek is generally 
monotonous, and a description of one portion 
of it will answer for all. In one or two 
places the foliage is varied by beautiful trees, 


hke giant ferns, of which my companion did 
not recollect the names, while a few lar^e 
white water or common weed flowers, and The 
white leaves of the “tooth plant” gleam out 
irorn the dark green bordering to the quiet 
water. There is nothing especially beautiful 
about the scenery of the creek. It is one of 
I those streams that one dreams about some¬ 
times amid the hurly-burly, wishing that he 
could drift down forever on its tranquil 
bosom shut out by the leafy screen on each 
side from everything except lazily floating 
i clouds and blue skies above. Eor a picture 
of perfect rest and repose it is beautiful. 

I ^en the brightly hued parrots and blue 
kingfishers that fly about among the branches 
j across, seem to move languidly as if in¬ 
fected with the general silence. 

ESSENCE OF MUSQUITO. 

But, like all the poetical dreams I ever 
heard of, Stockton Creek is a delusion and a 
snare. 1 would hate mightily to float forever 
down its tranquil bosom. Iu the first place 
the floating would have to be accompanied by 
the uupoetic accessories of “ingun rubber 
overcoat an’ gum elastic shoes,” and an um¬ 
brella. In the second place, the swamps are 
infested at intervals by an insect who seems 
to be a cross between a sand fly and a mus- 
quito, possessing the concentrated vices of 
both. (I would like to stop here to write a 
chapter on the pronencss of ants, sand flies, 

, gnats and others of that ilk to pervade the 
realms made beautiful by poetic fancy, and 
knock the romance out of tender situations. 
Space forbids, however, and any young gen¬ 
tleman who has walked on the Battery with 
: his adored one during sand fly time can ap- 
! preciate it.) Then, after floating down Stock- 
ton Creek for a night or so, the floater would 
probably have .African fever, and complete his 
floating with a shaven head, taking immense 
quantities of quinine. Altogether, I would 
prefer allowing somebody else to do my 
floating. While on this subject, however, 1 
must propound one question over which my 
mind has often been exercised: Is it presuma¬ 
ble that the insects above referred to infested 
the Garden of Eden ? If so, can it be sup¬ 
posed that the state of our first parents in 
their unprotected condition was one of un¬ 
mixed happiness? A reply is anxiously 
awaited. When about two and a half miles up 
Stockton Creek, the rain began to fall as if 
the floodgates were indeed open. It did not 
seem to fall in drops, but in continuous 
streams. It was literally a “pouring” rain. 
The Kroomen rowed on through it all very 
unconcernedly, while rubber clothing turned 
the water from the bodies of us passengers, 
and allowed it to flow in streamlets into the 
crackers and cheese in the lunch basket. So 
we progressed. By and by I noticed at one 
or two places on the right bank slight clear¬ 
ings, in which a native canoe was generally 
tied up. This, I was informed, was 

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT ABOVE MONROVIA. 

It is called New Georgia, and runs along 














40 


the banks for two or three mile?, the houses j 
being built far apart. The number of inhab¬ 
itants in this municipality is estimated at five 
hundred souls. Through the openings in the 
bush I caught occasional glimpses of the dark 
green coffee trees, ^or bananas, surrounding 
some house. Then, after awhile, we swept 
around a bend, and were 

ON TIIE ST. PAUL’S, 

which is here about two-thirds of a mile wide. 
The banks of the river are more elevated than 
those of the creek, and generally rise in min¬ 
iature bluffs from three to ten feet above the 
water. The land speedily begins to assume a 
more cleared appearance,' the view being un¬ 
obstructed by large trees. The grass and under¬ 
growth, however, generally come down nearly 
to the river’s edge. The banks themselves 
seemed to consist of a hard, gray clay. Marl 
is said to be abundant along the river. Most 
of the buildings I noticed along the shore 
were of brick, a large proportion being two 
story. About live miles up the river we 
stopped at a “landing.” The “landings” in¬ 
variably consist of either a few steps cut in 
the clay from the water’s edge to the top of 
the bank, or of a cut down slope into the 
bank itself. Such a thing as comfortable 
wooden or stone steps, or a wharf, seems to 
have occurred to none of them, and the Li¬ 
berians go on stumbling and sliding on the 
slippery clay, and falling down and muddying 
their good clothes, and swearing just as their 
fathers did. It may be remarked also that 
their sole means of transportation to Monro¬ 
via seems to consist of the native canoe, (what 
we call a “dug out.”) Everybody who can 
afford it keeps from one to ftve of these craft 
of different sizes, lying either at the “land¬ 
ing” or turned bottom up on the ground in 
the neighborhood. When they want to go 
anywhere, they put in a crew of from 
three to ten natives (according to the boat’s 
size,) and go. What objection there would 
be to having decent boats I don’t know. I 
am told that a path leads down through the 
woods by the creek to Monrovia. That is how 
the poor folks reach there I suppose. The 
“landing” we stopped at was of the usual 
order. My companion had a Krooman to 
“tote” him through the water and mud to the 
grass above, and I, very absurdly, followed 
his example. One hundred and seventy-live 
pounds of weight, however, seemed to make 
my Krooman sick, and I mentally registered 
a vow never to try that experiment again. 
When I do break my neck or smother in mud, 

I want to do it all by myself. Besides it is not, 
strictly speaking, pleasant, to be so closely 
embraced by a moist Kroo. The rain had 
temporarily suspended, and after reaching 
solid ground we wended our way to a very 
neat looking frame cottage, the residence of a 
colored man named Beam. lie lias been in 
this country for a number of years. He lias 
lifty acres under cultivation in sugarcane, and 
expressed his regret that lie could not show 
us around owing to the all-pervading damp- i 
ness, lie did show us, however, over his 1 


sugar mill, which is of the ordinary pattern, 
run by a six horse steam engine. The 

LIBERIAN SUGAR 

is coarse, but of a good quality and color, 
and brings from seven to eight cents per 
pound from American refiners. The Ljberiari 
production is from 3,000 to 3,500 pounds per 
acre. They make from their sugar boiling 
also an excellent quality of syrup, and rum, 
which is pronounced by connoisseurs to be 
very tine. This yield of sugar shows what 
the soil is—magnificent. It can bo cyphered 
out readily that there should be money in 
sugar-raising at this rate, especially as a crop 
is to be obtained in one year, and the cane, so 
L get it from the best authority, does not re¬ 
quire replanting for years, a new growth 
springing up every season from the old 
stumps. I saw some cane, uncut remnants I 
of this year’s crop, which 1 would estimate at j 
being twelve or thirteen feet high and two 
inches thick a foot from the roots. There 
are only two or three sugar mills on the river, 
however, and the profit is greatly reduced to ! 
the general producer by the tolls charged for 
grinding out the cane—-one-third of the gross i 
proceeds. Re-embarking, we continued our 
course up the river. About five miles above (j 
New Georgia comes a similar town named 
CALDWELL, 

stretching along the river front, and contain- j 
ing a population of from 500 to 600. The j 
word “town” may mislead the reader, “set¬ 
tlement” would be the more proper word, as j 
they consist of a number of small farms ad- i 
joining each other, and generally connected 
by broad roads, miscalled “streets.” Just 
opposite Caldwell on the other shore, are 
Lower and Upper Virginia, the two together j 
containing between 800 and 900 people. Be- ! 
bind Upper Virginia is Brewersville, where ! 
there are about 600 people. Next above ( 
Upper Virginia is Clay-Asliland, which claims j 
a population of 1,000. Nearly all of the older J 
houses along the shore arc of brick, but far- I 
t.her back frame is the general rule, with a 
proportion of thatch houses. These latter I 
it is very difficult for any one but a native to j 
make comfortable. They can be run up with ! 
a few days’ labor, and are sometimes used S 
temporarily by immigrants until frame or 
brick buildings can be erected. There is a 
saw-mill on the river, and a considerable 
quantity of the dressed lumber is imported. 
As the brick clay is abundant and easily ac¬ 
cessible, and the sun is hot enough to bake 
brick, it would be, I should think) more ad¬ 
visable to build of brick always. Manufac¬ 
tured brick can be bought for four dollars per 
thousand, and lime is cheap and easily ob¬ 
tained. Dressed shingles are also made in 
small quantities up the river. There is a bug, 
a sort of ant, in the country, commonly called 
“bugaboo,” which is very destructive to 
dressed timber, especially in building. 1 
think from all accounts they would cat. a 
frame house entirely up in ten or twelve years 
if let alone. The Liberians seem to think 














41 


that American timber withstands the ravages 
of these insects better than that produced*in 
Africa. These ants are different from the 
black ants, which make occasional raids, and 
if not smoked back, overrun houses, com¬ 
pletely clcariug them of animals, insects, 
tfcc., and acting as thorough scavengers. I saw 
some of the mounds built by these latter 
four feet high by two or three thick, and 
overgrown with grass and bushes. At Clay- 
Ash land I saw 

A SMALL IRON STEAMBOAT 
tied up just below the landing. It was for¬ 
merly the property of Messrs. Morris, of Phil¬ 
adelphia, but by some means or other has 
passed into the hands of a Liberian. It 
seems to be rusting itself out now, and I am 
informed is never used, exactly why, 1 could 
not. learn. It seems to me that it would be 
an incalculable benefit to the people on the 
river, were it run regularly, as well as a 
source of profit to the owner. It seems at 
present to afford a fair illustration of Libe¬ 
rian entrprise. We landed at Clay-Ashland. 
took dinner, and spent the night. There I 
first saw what Liberia could do in the way of 
cotton. In my host’s yard was a large bush 
some eight feet high, and branching out 
about twelve feet each way. It was 
A COTTON PLANT 

which, he informed me, had been growing 
there for nine years, bearing regularly every 
year, and ou two or three occasions twice a 
year, from 2,000 to 3,000 bolls. Of the 
cotton itself I secured a specimen. It is 
long staple, and resembles our sea island, 
only it is not quite so line. This 

COTTON GROWS WILD 

about the country, and nobody seems to pay 
any attention to it, except the riaiives, who 
with their primitive looms, manufacture from 
it a coarse strong cloth which they wear 
almost universally 7 . They weave strips 
about six inches wide, and of any required 
length. These strips are subsequently woven 
together into the cloth, which is traded to the 
Liberian store keeper, who sells it out again 
to his customers. The cloths generally sell 
according to width, about cents being 

charged for each “strip” contained in them. 
They are dyed usually with indigo, which 
also grows wild, in blue stripes of different 
widths on the white ground. One I saw, 
however, which was quite elaborate, there 
being rude attempts at reproducing the shapes 
of flowers on it. I obtained a couple of these 
also. From all I can see, I know of no rqason 
why Liberia should not with proper care 
become one of the great cotton producing 
countries. There is no replanting necessary 
except every twelve or fifteen years; the plant 
bears the first year, and soon becomes strong 
enough to defy grass. 

NATURE SEEMS TO PROVIDE EVERYTHING HERE. 

In rambling around, my companion, the 
doctor, showed me the fever plant, the leaves 
of which, made into tea, are almost a sover- 

0 


eign cure for fevers; the soap tree, the leaves 
of which, when bruised, lather like soap and 
are almost as efficacious for cleaning rough 
surfaces; the tooth plant, a white leaf, which, 
as I ascertained by experiment, by a. little 
rubbing, clean and polish your teeth beauti¬ 
fully; the hemorrhage plant, the leaves of 
which when applied to a wound staunch the 
flow of blood; pepper plants, licorice, ginger 
and lemon plants, a leaf smelling and tasting 
like lemon and an admirable medicinal agent; 
then the mangove ash makes the strongest 
I sort of lye; and the uses of the palm and 
bread fruit tree, everybody knows. Cassada 
is a long root, generally'about two inches 
thick, which is palatable when properly 
cooked, and is very nutritious. Indigo is 
abundant. Walking about Clay-Ashland you 
kick up pure silicate from the ground in 
flakes at every step, and I was shown speci¬ 
mens of ore which, even I could see, were 
rich in iron. Some of this ore, I am told, 
yields 85 per cent, of pure iron. The natives 
bring pure gold from the interior to trade, 
and we procured a ruby, picked up from the 
ground. The Liberians claim that there are 
diamonds also, but precious stones seem very 
scarce. These things I do not give as rumors 
but as the result of diligent inquiries among 
different people at different times and places, 
and of personal inspection. At Clay-Ash¬ 
land, as well as everywhere else in Liberia, 
everybody is mad on the subject of coffee. 

THE COFFEE TREE 

is a beautiful oue, generally growing, when 
developed and under cultivation, from six to 
ten feet high, with a large dark green leaf, 
(here like everything else an evergreen.) It 
is generally planted by seious of slips, the 
little trees being taken from the beds when 
well started, and transplanted. The coffee 
grows in thickly clustering bunches along the 
branches, and is green in color, until ripe, 
when it turns red. A thick pod or case en¬ 
velopes the grains, which is beaten off when 
gathered and dried. The grains are very large, 
and the coffee itself is delicious, to my taste 
fully equalling, if not surpassing, Mocha. 
The coffee trees are usually planted about 
400 to the acre, and begin to bear well the 
third year. The trees yield from one to live 
pounds of coffee grains each, which sell at 20 
cents per pound, wholesale, at Monrovia. 
While on this subject, I may say that I saw 
in the Courthouse yard iu Monrovia a coffee 
tree fully twenty-five feet high, from which 
from five to ten pouuds of the grain are gath¬ 
ered every year. The coffee-picking season 
is over now,"lasting from February to May. 1 
saw the trees growing wild and uncared for 
iu the bush in one place, and about the yards 
and streets in Monrovia. Almost everybody 
near the landings along the St. Paul’s has a 
little store under their dwelling where they 
carry on a 

TRAFFIC WITn THE NATIVES. 

Exchanging calicoes, kettles, guns, beads, 
&c., for country cloths, palm kernels, coffee 











42 


and rice. The palm kernels are the nuts 
gathered from the palm tree, and, with the 
oil pressed from them, form one of the chief 
articles of export, the oil being extensively 
used for the manufacture of line painis and 
soaps. The English and French manufac¬ 
turers extract the oil from the kernels, and 
press the remainder into cakes, which is said 
to make an excellent food for cattle. Almost 
everybody handles palm oil; nearly the whole 
of Liberia seems to smell of it, and the odor is 
not a particularly delightful one. 

RICE 

also grows in a wild and half wild state, and 
but little care seems to be devoted to its pro¬ 
duction. It is kept in the busk until wanted 
for use, when the required quantity is put in 
a wooden mortar, and hammered on until it is 
cleaned, and tolerably well broken up. It is 
a good article to the taste, being richer than 
our fine white rice. The Liberians claim that 
this effect is produced by keeping it unhulled. 
Notwithstanding its growth at their very 
doors, however, they import India rice for 
consumption. Although in the country with 
cattle all about, we had English canned'butter 
at Clay-Ashland. I only saw milk at two 
places in Liberia, and then it was in the 
coffee. They say that the cows give so little 
milk that it’s hardly worth while feeding 
them. I believe, though, that the experiment 
of carefully feeding and attending to milch 
cattle has not as yet been tried. Clay-Ash¬ 
land is like the other settlements, scattering 
iar and wide over the country, with every 
vacant lot densely overgrown with under¬ 
brush, and all the roads covered with grass. 
We left there early on Monday morning, con¬ 
tinuing our course up the river. The day was 
the one appointed for the opening of the 
quarterly court at Monrovia, and as wc went 
up we met quite a number of planters coming 
down to attend. They make quite 

LUXURIOUS CONVEYANCES 
of the long “dug-outs,” having cushioned or 


covered and backed seats near the stern, in 
which the “boss” reclines beneath the shade 
of his umbrella and smokes his pipe, or lei¬ 
surely discusses a lunch or a bottle of wine, 
while the seven, eight, nine or ten natives 
who compose the crew paddle away singing 
merrily. In one of these craft I noticed the 
two “bosses,” leaning comfortably back, 
facing each other, with a little table between 
them, from which they ate breakfast. In 
several places, on each side of the river, small j 
creeks flow into it. These are generally 
bridged just at their mouths by flimsy foot 
bridges, supported on long, insecure looking 
poles. These creeks are the great resorts of 
the hippopotamus, (river horse.) 


GAME 


docs not seem very abundant. I saw but few 
birds along the river. There are several 
species of deer, the principal one being appa¬ 
rently the water deer, a small animal, savory 
to the taste, and from whose skins the natives 
make shot pouches and other articles. Quite 
a number of other deer are, however, killed f 
in “the bush.” Monkeys are abundant, but fa 
I saw none, those ancestors of ours having a 
constitutional objection to being wetted by , 
the rain. Panthers occasionally make them¬ 
selves troublesome by leaping the apologies I 
for fences and killing cattle. Those interest¬ 
ing animals are, however, becoming scarcer. 

I orcupines, squirrels and similar small “var- 1 
ments” seem plentiful. I saw one large alii- « 
gator on a rock, lie seemed to be rather fm 
lighter in color than his American brother, L 
but gave evidence of equal alacrity in movie 0 " 
at the whistle of a rifle bullet, and of equal f iv 
persistency in refusing to give any tangible lie 

evidence of whether he was hit or not. There 

are no tigers or lions hereabout, but elephants f 
there must be not far in the interior, as the 
natives bring considerable numbers of their p 
tusks in for sale and barter. Fish swarm, so 
I was told, in the rivers. I noticed many . 
traps along the banks. 


to 


irar 
























CHAPTER VI. 


BT1IL 1 LAN 1 LRS OL LILLRIA—EACH GENERATION NEARER TO PER¬ 
FECT CIV ILIZA 1 ION—A SUCCESSFUL COLUMBIA COLORED MAN_ 

VIEWS OL SOl l HERN LIFE—BELIEF IN THE BLOOD\ SHIRT 


YARNS HOW l HE ST. PAUL’S PLANTERS LIVE—SUPERIORITY OF 
I HE LIBERIAN 10 THE AVERAGE FREEDMAN—SOCIAL DIFFICUL- 
1 IES HIE SERVANT-GIRL BOTHER—FARMING WITH SLAVE LA¬ 
BOR CONFIDENCE IN SOUTHERN FACTORS—ANXIETY OF THE 
LIBERIANS TO TRADE WITH CHARLESTON. 


I Monrovia, Liberia, June 17.—When I | 
closed my last I was on my way up the St. j 
Paul’s River, having left Clay-Ashlaud, and 
started for further exploration. 

[ Five miles above Clay-Ashland we stopped 
at the plantation of Jesse Sharp, a native of 
Columbia, S. C., who left there as a freeman, 
a number of years before the war, when a 
young man. He is light colored, and has a 
fine sugar plantation, which pleased me more 
thau anything of the sort I saw on the river, 
giving evidence as it did of thrift and care. 
He showed us with much pride over his cane 
fields, of which he has some 150 acres, which 
looked unusually clean and free from weeds 
aud grass. Their owner seemed delighted to 
meet some one from South Carolina, and 
he aud I had a long talk, comparing notes 
i' about Columbia and Columbia people. Most 
|t of his knowledge, it is needless to say, was 
Itoo deep for me, being too far back for my 
ken. lie could and did, however, inquire re- 
I garding the children and descendants of those 
['whom he had known. He seemed to have a 
f great admiration for Governor Hampton, 

I whom he says he remembers perfectly as a 
Eyoung man. He related with great glee sev- 
|eral 

REMINISCENCES OF IIIS EXCELLENCY, 

f among others, one of his administering a 
I severe castigation to a champion who was “on 
his muscle” and insulted him. The incident 
jf the remembrance of which 6oemed to give 
him the greatest delight though, was the Gov- 
\ ernor’s purchasing a horse which its owner 
was riding over everybody on, and “bragging” 


about, and giving it to his servant to ride to 
market on. lie laughed most heartily over 
this last anecdote, and remarked that he 
would never forget to his dying day how “cut 
up” the former owner of the horse had looked. 
When shown a photograph of the Governor, 
he evinced so much pleasure that I gave it to 
him. lie has accumulated a comfortable for¬ 
tune at sugar planting, and is preparing to 
retire from business, having a handsome house 
in process of erection at Monrovia. His 
VIEWS OF AMERICAN POLITICS 
differ materially from those of the general 
run of Liberians, his idea being that the negro 
| can most safely trust his interests in the hands 
| of his former master. The average Liberian 
| derives his impressions of American life and 
polities from the National Republican and the 
Toledo Blade, as Tiie News and Courier is 
only taken for its superior information re¬ 
garding the emigration scheme. I know too 
much about newspapers to think of saying 
anything against one, just as the gunmaker is 
always the most careful iu handling firearms. 
It can hardly be denied, however, that the 
Republican and the Blade are a “leetle” in¬ 
clined to Republicanism in their political pro¬ 
clivities, and their utterances do much towards 
shaping sentiment here in that direction. The 
Liberians seem to have a general idea that no¬ 
body in the South calls a negro anything but 
a “d—d nigger,” or at best “them niggers;” 
that the colored citizen habitually resides in 
caves, dens and other fastnesses, that he is 
habitually bunted at the j>oint of the revolver 
just for fun, and that he has no rights what¬ 
ever before the law or anywhere else. In 
talking with one of the most intelligent citi¬ 
zens and discussing the causes of the decrease 
of the colored population of the United States, 
he said, perfectly seriously aud earnestly: 







44 


“Wed, then, I suppose some ten thousand are 
killed every year.” (Notes of admiration !! at 
the reader's expense.) Another seemed some¬ 
what astonished and incredulous when I told 


him that I did not belong to 


TLIE IvU-KLUX 


and had never done a colored brother to 
death, he apparently believing that every 
male citizen south of Mason and Dixon’s line 
was a member of that organization, and only 
acquired a ...canding in the community bv per¬ 
forming that feat. When informed that I 
belouged to one of those horrible “rifle 
clubs,” the females of another family gazed 
on me with apparently the same feelings as 
those with which they would contemplate a 
caged cannibal in a circus. I fear that the 
Azov's passengers, having such sympathetic 
listeners, will tel) some terrible “yarns.” All 
this is the more surprising from the fact that 
most of the more wealthy citizens have 
travelled. That is one feature of Liberian 
life worthy of commendation. As soon as 
they acquire means, they seem generally to 
go out to enlarge their ideas by travel 
and observation. Many of those whom 
I met had been to, and generally through, 
England and America, and several over the 
Continent of Europe, it, is hard to imagine 
how any one could go to Europe, and he con¬ 
tented to come back and live in Liberia. It 
is said, however, that “the Laplander loves 
hie home,” (for that reason I have always re¬ 
garded the Laplander as an ass.) None of the 
younger men seem ever to have gone down 
South much. This is natural, as they have 
no ties thereto induce them to brave the dan¬ 
gers which they believe heset the path of 
every colored man who gets your side of Bal¬ 
timore. Besides this, they have a social rec¬ 
ognition and associations, in England and in 
places on the Contin. a- d in the United 
States, which they eer duly . ould not expect 
in the South. One or two who have been 
there expressed themselves as much disgusted 
and disappointed by the general poverty and 
ignorance of their race. 


THE GENERAL LIFE 

of the older and wealthier planters along the 
St. Paul’s resembles in many particulars that 
of the Southern planter in (lie “good old 
days.” Having a good brick house built, and 
bis coffee, or sugar plantation well under 
weigh, the tiller of the soil generally takes 
his ease, wears good clothes, and smokes, 
only exercising a supervision of his affairs, 
i he spirit or wine decanter is almost invaria¬ 
bly at the service of his guests, and when he 
goes visiting or to Monrovia, he steps into his 
canoe, calls his crew together, and travels 
comfortably and sedately. As the present 
generation is growing old, the children take 
charge after the return of the heir from his 
schooling and “finishing tour.” In view of 
an this, it is ridiculous to suppose that 

im Li I\ ma ?, s are relapsing into barbar- 
sn on the contrary, it is apparent 
that <$u.lt generation is bringing them steadily 


nearer to 'perfect civilization. While these old 
lords of the soil in their conscious or uncon¬ 
scious aping of their former master’s former 
lives, present occasionally ludicrous coutrasts 
to their models by ignorance and lack of cul¬ 
ture, their sons and daughters are growing 
up better educated, trained and supplied 
with the requirements of intelligent, men and 
women. I saw the Liberians (especially the 
younger ones) brought into contact, and con¬ 
sequently contrast, with the Azov's immi¬ 
grants. It showed there and then that 
whether the negro is capable of attaining the 
white man’s level or not, he is capable of be¬ 
coming much nearer a perfect man 
ti.an he is in America. It showed that 
there is more capability in him for im¬ 
provement than we have developed. It is 
conclusive evidence that there is a vast 
amount of good mental ground lying fallow, 
wasting or running to noxious weeds, in the, 
negro. It is as well to say it right here— 
despite their many ignorances, their conceit 


and their improvidence and inertness, the 
average Liberian is in most ways immeasura¬ 
bly superior to the average American negro, 
and those at Sierra Leone are as as far above 
him in acquirements as the clouds are above 
the earth. In the social refinements the better 
classes of colored people there seem perfect. 
In one thing I could notice distinctly the 
three degrees of progression, as illustrated bv 
the English Colony negro, the Liberian negro", 
and the American negro 


THE OBSERVANCES OF TABLE ETIQUETTE. 


This is a small matter at first sight, hut it 
tells a story when looked into. History will 
show that in proportion as men have become 
civilized they have paid more and more atten¬ 
tion to the little niceties and daintinesses that 
redeem the taking of food from the uncleanly 
and disgusting obedience to necessity and ex¬ 
ercise of gluttony of the savage to the pleas¬ 
urable, graceful and cleanly indulgence in a 
luxury of the well bred European or American 
It is very well to spout Burns,but even the most, 
rabid universal social equality lunatic would 
find it dillicult to realize that the man who 
sits opposite, who makes of his mouth an 
open sepulchre in which he inters all of his 
feelings, sensibilities and intellectual deve¬ 
lopments, shovels in on them huge and indis¬ 
criminate masses of food with his knife, and 
gulps his wine as if it were a dose of medi¬ 
cine, is a man for a’ that. People’s style of 
eating is generally a fair indication of their 


progress in civilization. The Bushman eats 
ms fish half raw with his hands; the China¬ 
man conveys it neatly and deftly to his 
mouth with chopsticks; the Englishman care- 
lully and as deftly, “scoops” it in with a sil¬ 
ver fork. These are the three degrees. ([ 
don’t mean to say that a man is uncivilized 
unless he eats Ids fish with a hit of bread and 
a fork, hut the civilized man, however he 
does handle his food, does it cleanly.) Tell it 
a°i \ n ^ ath > publish it not in the streets of 
Askalon, hut almost every meal I took while 


F 

























45 




on African soil was in company with colored 
people. A man, and especially a newspaper 
reporter, has, from policy and decency both, 
to subordinate his prejudices and habits to po¬ 
liteness, besides which 

“We can live without knowledge; what is knowl¬ 
edge but grieving ? 

We can live without hope; what is hope but de¬ 
ceiving ? 

We can live without love; what is love but renin 
ing ? 1 

But where is the man who can live without din¬ 
ing ? 

, t I can safely asseverate that he isn’t in my 
boots at any rate. The correctness of the quo'- 
tation is not vouched for. (It’s the only part 
of “Lucille,” if it is “Lucille,” that ever im¬ 
pressed me much.) But the Sierra Leone peo¬ 
ple display a spontaneous and unconscious 
scrupulousness regarding the observance of 
all points of table etiquette, such as is hardly 
seen in the best American households, and 
puts an habitual sitter at hotel tables to dili¬ 
gently recalling the precepts inculcated iu his 
youth regarding the proper manipulation of 
table furniture, Ac. The Liberians are appa¬ 
rently much less enlightened on this subject, 
ami seemed, with one or two exceptions, to 
pay little attention to it, while the Azov's peo¬ 
ple had each their own original and untram¬ 
melled style, the main object seeming to be 
the consumption of the greatest possible 
amount of lood in the least possible time. 
Almost everybody, both in Sierra Leone 
and Liberia, had claret at dinner, and there 
w as usually a glass of sherry or Maderia ten- j 
dered before or after the meal. 

TRADE WITH THE SOUTHr. 

But all this is wandering far away from my 
friend Sharps, which is my last geographical 
point. He displayed a feeling which seems 
quite prevalent among a large portion of the i 
Liberians—a desire to do bis trading with the 
United States, if possible with the South, j 
More than one repeated to me his expressed 
sentiments, that “in spite of everything” ; 
their sympathies were with the land of their ; 
birth, and they would like to deal with her | 
people. It is a flattering compliment to the 
business men of that seetion, that they seem 
to possess the confidence of those who knew ; 
them years ago, in the highest degree. One 
of the leading Liberians said : “I know the j 
men who generally do business in South ; 
Carolina are gentlemen, and that they are j 
above a dirty trick, or taking advantage of a 
man because he is far away,” (the speakcrisa 
Carolinian.) This feeling seems to be gene- jj 
rally entertained. It may perhaps be partly at- ; 
tributed to the desire to escape from the 
monopoly held by a New York house, who 
do much business along the West Coast, and 
have been clever enough to obtain almost 
complete control of the Liberian trade, which 
seems to be quite a plum. They sell almost , 
everything that is sold in Liberia, the Monro- ; 
vian* storekeepers replenishing their stocks i 
from the New Yorker’s ships, and paying, j 
certainly, very good prices in produce or 1 


money. This is, I think, one of the obstacles 
to Liberian progress. Competition would 
enable them to sell higher and buy cheaper, 
thus stimulating trade, and necessarily in¬ 
creasing prosperity. Various Hutch and 
English firms have been established from 
time to time, and, receiving their own goods 
on their own ships, have been enabled to un- 
derscll and go away ahead of the Liberian 
merchants, making fortunes while they plod 
j along in the same old ruts. 

THE FIRST ORDER FOR CHARLESTON. 

Jesse Sharp, who seems to be one of those 
men always willing to back up liis words by 
his acts, showed his sincerity by sending a 
cash order to a large Charleston firm for 
sashes, timber, &c., for his house, the goods 
to be brought by the Azov on the return trip. 
While on this subject I will sav that the new 
immigrants all manifested the same feelings. 
To precede the narrative a little, when I re¬ 
turned to Monrovia, and in answer to ques¬ 
tions told them what I had seen of country 
cotton, exhibiting the samples, they generally 
and joyfully exclaimed, “Well, you bet the 
cotton makers are here uow. We’ve got lots 
of cotton seed and tools, and when you come 
back again if you don’t see cotton bales 
around here you kin whip m." The next in¬ 
quiry of several of them was as to whether I 
thought it would be possible to deal with 

THEIR OLD FACTORS IN CHARLESTON, 

and all of the Carolina darkeys seemed 
anxious on the subject. The matter may be 
| worthy of consideration by Charleston busi¬ 
ness men. If many of the colored people 
come a valuable direct trade may be opened. 

It may be more of the “sarcasm of fate,” 
but exactly the state of affairs exists here 
i now that I imagine made slave labor neces¬ 
sary in America. That is, every man is a 
landholder, an owner and an equal. No 
lower classes have come in yet to do the 
manual work. There are no servants, and 
servants are a necessity, except in an imagi¬ 
native jackass’s Utopia. A few r of the poorer 
Liberians hire out, but they are as good as 
their hirers, and consequently matters don’t 
work smoothly. All such “servants” are ad¬ 
dressed by everybody as “Mr.” and “Miss.” 
It sounds funny to bear the master of the 

house say “Miss-, a glass of water, 

please.” When I visited the President I 
heard him ask: “Mr. Ross, will you bring in 
the wine ?” This is, of course, a great hin¬ 
drance to the cultivation of land on any ex¬ 
tensive scale, especially when there are no 
horses. It cramps fearfully the sugar pro¬ 
duction, where much and cheap labor is in- 
despensable at certain times. So, disguise it 
as they will, the Liberians have to 

DEPEND ON SLAVE LABOR 

at last, for it comes to that. They hire 
from a native king a certain number of his 
superstition-bound slaves for so much rum, so 
many brass kettles, iron bars and guns, and so 

















46 


much calico paid to him. The ‘‘hands” work 
well and are faithful and obdierit until the 
king, through caprice or having been paid, 
and wanting them to cut rice, sends orders to 
them to come back. Then they leave in a body, 
just, maybe, as the planter needs them most, 
and the Liberian government is too weak to en¬ 
force the performance of contracts made with 
its citizens. One secret of my friend Sharp’s 
success I was told is that he makes an excel¬ 
lent quality of rum, with which he pays a 
king for “help,” and is shrewd enough to 
keep on good terms with the potentate by 
sending him an extra cask now and then. In 
this way he and a few others manage to secure 
labor when they want it for their 50, 100 and 
150 acre farms. Oue of a thousand acres, 
though, it would be difficult to work here. 
There are some comparatively free natives 
who hire cheaply, but they are unreliable | 
and apt to “knock oil” and go at anytime. ! 
You cau pick up a few always, enough j 
to man your canoe or do odd I 
jobs, and if you treat them kindly, they will 
hire out. to you again, and do any kind of 
work. They can not be depended upon in 
any considerable number, however. These 
natives are abjectly afraid of the white man, 
having acquired the idea (probably from the 
Liberians) that he is not only an habitual 
cheat, but an habitual cutthroat. It requires 
several months of acquaintance to get them 
fairly reconciled to the Caucasian. Then 
unless he be a bastard to the time who doth 
not smack of observation, they like him a bove 
all, and will give him the preference in hiring. 
Wiese natives will take anything, and the 
Liberians (who “fled here from the slave 
holder’s lash”) do not scruple to administer 
unto them a thrashing when provoked thereto. 
The native frequently discerns the anger iti 
liis employer’s face and the stick in his hand, 
and precipitately takes to flight, leaving, if 
necessary, like Joseph, his garment in the J 
bands of the pursuer. All the revenge he I 
ever takes is to quit and go home. It, must be 1 

AN INSPIRITING SPECTACLE 
to see what was described to me in an inci¬ 
dental way by the chief 'actor himself, a free 
black Liberian man, soundly cudgeling a free 
black native man with a stick, while two I 
more free black native men were flying over j 
the neighboring hedges to avoid similar casli- j 
gation, the throe free black natives having j 
been caught in the act of dragging a bag of j 
rice through the mud. Such things make 
me weep when I think that Wendell'Phillips I 
was not there. Tiie native is rarely “sassy,” j 
and the most he does is to complain in a sort 
of whine, in his broken English. It is a uni¬ 
versal custom for them to address all who 
they consider as superiors as “daddy” and 
“mammy.” (This information was a great 
comfort to me, as I had been much scandal¬ 
ized by being addressed as “daddy” by a fat 
Xroo boy, within an hour after my landing.) 
TIIE DIFFICULTY REGARDING HOUSE SERVANTS 
is in a great degree obviated by a practice now j 


fortunately becoming common. That is the 
binding out of native children by their parents 
to serve in Liberian families until twenty-one 
years of age. There were from two to six of 
these youngsters around nearly every house I 
visited, and very bright, “handy” and honest 
they seem. In return for their services they are 
clothed, fed, learned reading, writing, Christi¬ 
anity and her handmaid Civilization. Quite 
an attachment in some instances seems to ex¬ 
ist between master and servant. This shows 
a long step forward on the part of the natives 
—an appreciation of their inferiority to civi¬ 
lized people. A people or a man who can be 
made to see their or his own imperfections, is 
not beyond hope. Perfect self-satisfaction is 
the greatest bar to improvement, as 
it is the most unmistakable mark of 
a fool. Had the Liberians a little 
of the humbleness and coneiousness of in¬ 
feriority of the natives, 1 might have more 
hopes of them. So far, the civilized natives 
have made little progress. When they return 
to their tribes they have to doif European 
clothes, as, if they didn’t, the medicine man 
would probably af.tiibute the first misfortune 
that befell to liis violation of the customs of 
his ancestors, which are more honored in tiie 
breech cloth than in the observance of panta¬ 
loons and paper collars, and a “settling” 
dose of poison would remove the progression¬ 
ist. Their knowledge of the reading and 
writing of the English language, too, is now 
generally employed in aiding the king in some 
villainy. During their residence with the 
whites, they usually pick up a knowledge of 
commercial values, which makes them usef 'l 
in facilitating the trading operations of their 
tribe. As the numbers of these civilized ones 
increases, however, their influence is bound to 
be felt for good. 

Apropos of the natives, it may be mentioned 
that, tiie principal tribes hereabouts are Mau- 
dmgoes and Veis, the former noted for their 
aptness in manufacturing and trading, ami 
the latter tor having invented (patent not yet 
applied for) an alphabet of their own. These 
natives generally live in thatch villages, and 
subsist mainly on rice and cassada, varied by 
occasional game, or a free lunch composed of 
black ants, caught by sinking a kettle in the 
ground and allowing them to tumble in. 
\Y beaten bread is a very rare treat, and they 
beg or trade for it eagerly. With considera- 
b e regret I took leave of my friend, the 
Fit nte V? nd we re-embarked for the return 
tup. VY here we stopped was about twenty 
miles above Monrovia. The St. Paul’s is onl y 
navigable some five miles farther up, where 
the lapnls, which are about nine feet high 

t-lkinFthr No V ody in Liberia has 

lakui ti c trouble to explore the stream, and 

little is known of it above these rapids. The 
natives along its course are reported to be 
hostile and savage, and its source is unknown. 
Some persons seem to think that it is 

A BRANCH OF THE NIGER, 

Which makes a long bend to the westward at 
















47 


« 


a point about opposite the Liberian territory, 
but they advance nothing but theories and 
vague beliefs in support of their idea. Above 
Olay-Ashland are the settlements of New 
York, (200 population,) and Louisiana, (400 
population.) Just above the rapids is the flour¬ 
ishing settlement of Arlington, wit h a popula¬ 
tion of between 000 and 700. This portion 
of the St. Paul’s is the most thickly popula¬ 
ted in the Republic, and most of the unoccu¬ 


pied land along the river front is owned by 
old settlers. There are a few settlements 
along the Junk and Po, and one on the lower 
portion of the St. Paul’s. Then a few fami¬ 
lies are scattered about here and there, all of 
the remainder of the population being in the 
towns, most of which have already been 
named, and smaller settlements. Liberia has 
only received an addition of a few hundred 
by immigration during the past ten years. 





















CHAPTER VII. 


THE CURSE OF 


LIBERIA—WIIAT IT COSTS TO GOVERN 


HUNDRED VOTERS—DOWN TIIE RIVER—L I B E R I A N 


THIRTY-FIVE 
HOUSE S—A 


WRANGLE WITH TIIE KROOMEN—TAKING A HINT—AN INTERVIEW 
WITH THE PRESIDENT—WIIAT HE LOOKS AND TALKS LIKE—THE 
MACHINERY OF GOVERNMENT—AVERAGE COST, TWENTY-EIGHT 
DOLLARS FOR EACH VOTER—THE WHOLE WORK COULD BE DONE 
BY A MAN AND TWO SMART BOYS. 


Monrovia, Liberia, June 17. —From Clay- 
Ashlanil we came back down the St. Paul’s 
River, stopping at several places to do a little 
foraging. The result was a bushel or two of 
butter pears, (a fruit about the size and shape 
of a very large pear, with a green or purple 
rind, and containing a soft, buttery interior 
which is very palatable when eaten with a 
spoon and well mixed in a disgusting looking 
mess with sugar and vinegar, (a few sour-saps, 
(a fruit much commended, which grows on a 
tree, resembles a dropsical cucumber, and 
tastes like nothing at all, seasoned wilh weak 
vinegar,) a few delightful pineapples, a dozen 
or so chickens, and an equal number of eggs, 
collected one, two and three at a time; a few 
oranges, plenty of lemons and limes, and seve¬ 
ral large bunches of bananas, and a sheep, 
which was evidently in the last stages of con¬ 
sumption (the sheep here have no wool, and 
I couldn’t to save me tell sheep from goat.) For 
all of these we paid good prices. The quad¬ 
ruped just alluded to was devoured at a single 
meal, and then we wanted more. It was about 
the size of an ordinary black and tan dog, but 
tasted very well. He and his like sell for 
about two dollars, when they can be gotten, 
while a pair of turkeys brings five dollars. 
At a few places along the river tbey grow 

INDIAN CORN 

in small patches, but it deteriorates greatly 
in this soil and climate, producing, however, 
fair “nubbins,” suitable for feeding stock. I 
saw a few watermelons, generally of the 
‘‘Joe Johnson” (or “rattlesnake”) pattern, 
ut they, too, were small, although there is 
Lttle difference between their taste and that 


of “Hanover County” or “Augusta” rapture. 

LIBERIAN HOUSES. 

I had an opportunity of inspecting the 
interior of more of the houses. Nearly all of 
the dwellings in Liberia, outside of Mon¬ 
rovia, are furnished plainly—very much in 
the style prevalent among colored folks in 
America. There were the familiar plaster of 
Paris images, dogs and cats on the mantles, 
the familiar gaudily gilded and painted china 
cups and mugs, and the familiar ghastly 
caricatures of Scriptural scenes, where a 
knock-kneed Joseph is always being sold into 
captivity in a yellow shawl by an obviously 
intoxicated gentleman with very pink legs 
I and very large arms, who holds in his other 
hand a long w alking stick, while a blue camel 
watches the proceedings with an air of per¬ 
sonal interest. Altogether 1 could easily 
imagine myself in the best room of a respect¬ 
able colored family down South. In Mori- 
icvia more of an attempt at elegance is made, 
there being wide settees and more elaborate 
furniture generally. The pictures, however 
are invariably common and poor. 

THE conciliation policy. 

Ye got back to Monrovia some time after 
dark that evening. Here it transpired that 
Hi. Roberts, who had very kindly acted as my 
guide, undeistood the management of Kroo- 
men much better than I did. He had been 
stern, exacting and sharp with our crew 
throughout, while 1 tried the pacific policy. 
They refused point blank to row out to the 
vessel, and it was only after the assumption of 
tone by us yarding the with- 
' vv T a ^ es aud rum that they finally 
consented. It was characteristic of the 
annuals that, after being paid in full, they 
a H- d ® manded repayment on the 

™ Ti at l hei i headman had failed to pay 
them. 1 his headman followed me around for 













4 !) 


:wo days trying to persuade mo that he had 
r>een promised an extra dollar, until I took 
i occasion to inquire, in his hearing, how much 
[ if. would cost to break a Krooman’s head. 

1 1 Then he desisted, although he might with 
: impunity have continued dunning t.o this 
hour, as he weighed, apparently, about, 225 
pounds, and an assault upon his precious 
person would have cost iue (being a white 
nmn) about $25. One day Capt. Holmes and 
1 took heart of grace and called to see 

THE PRESIDENT. 

The Executive mansion is not a very impos- 
ng structure, being an ordinary red brick 
;.vo-story tenement house, with a porch in 
front, to which a flight of common wooden 
j steps leads up from the front gate which 
fens on the street. The yard in front is 
i shallow, and has apparently little care taken 
; of it, although the building itself is in toler- 
i able repair. On the benches in the front 
uorch there are usually several persons loaf- 
tig, probably either petitioners for something 
or hangers-on. The interior is plainly fur¬ 
nished, the most noticeable objects in the 
pari or being two large and elaborately gilt, 
)ld-fashioned parlor tables, surmounted' by 
i i.ige mirrors, in equally elaborately gilt 
bames. Our cards were taken up, and in a 
('ft minutes tbc President, Anthony W. 
Gardner, came down stairs, and we were in- 
i ’reduced by a young man who bad taken up 
tar “pasteboards”— I as “Mr. ah-um News 
ind Courier,” and the captain as “Captain 
I ib-um Azov .” The President is tall, thin, 
i \pparently about sixty years of age, and a 
bade or two darker than the octoroon. He 
Jresses as becomes his years and position, i 
plainly but well, adhering to the old-fash- j 
med high collar with which our ancestors 
used to make themselves uncomfortable. He 
'haves clean except small patches of whisker 
lose to his check bones. Altogether he is a 
;>od specimen of the wealt hier and more in- 
lligent free colored man of the “old school.” 

He received us in a sort of neglige costume \ 
■vith smoking cap and slippers. He is a na- j 
ive of Virginia. The Old Dominion, by the 
>ay, retains her ancient prestige as 

THE MOTHER OF PRESIDENTS, 

■ven here, six out of eight Liberian execu- j! 
litres having sprung from her soil. Three of 
(■he six, singular to say, have come from the 
(ifncdiate neighborhood of Petersburg. 
’Northern,” “Eastern,” “Southwestern,” J 
Valley” and “Southside,” will probably be 
'itch clamoring for representation anon.) Ilis 
bxcellency does not assume any airs, and talks 
freely and intelligently. He seems heartily 
insympathy with the exodus movement, and 
ais that “the hand of Jehovah is plainly to 
meen in it.” He expressed much pleasure 
it the arrival of the immigrants, but seemed 
^appointed in them, remarking on their in- 
'•'ifent appearance, and unprepared state. He 
ifd, however, that the government would do 
t|at it could to help this party, but hoped 
Pat no more would come equally unprovided 

7 


and destitute. He also said that he intended 
addressing a communication to the President 
of the l nited States on the subject of the 
( imgi ation from that country, with a view to 
us facilitation. He talks with the deliberate 
drawl characteristic of the Southerner, white 
I oi colored, and seemed pleased to have an 
opportunity of talking about Virginia and the 
old times there. He says that he left that 
ktatc just as he was “getting bi"‘ 
enough to ride the horse to mill.” 
As usual in Liberian households, wine 
was brought out, it being in this instance a 
harmless and pleasant compound wherein 
ginger was the predominating feature. Of 
course I appreciated the grandeur of my posi¬ 
tion, clinking glasses—hob-nobbing—actually 
chumming in as it were—with one of the 
rulers of the earth; a president of a republic. 

1 here was a great uplifting of heart, which 
was suddenly checked by the remembrance 
that I (at present the companion of a poteu 
tate) would return to my own country and 
have the bell rung on me by a street car 
driver just the same as if 1 had never known 
any president beyond the head man in a 
building and loan association. Such is life. 
The beverage was brought., as heretofore 
mentioned, by a colored man addressed as 
“Mr. lios6,” who took up a position behind 
the president’s chair, from whence he silently 
but actively participated in the conversation, 
nodding approvingly when something pleased 
him that was said, and again expressing un¬ 
qualified dissent. He was from Richmond, 
Va., having come out just at the close of the 
war. He had formerly belonged to one of 
the most prominent families there, and 
seemed exceedingly delighted when given 
some tidings of them. We took our leave 
after a very pleasant visit. The president, in 
common with all Liberia, seems fully im¬ 
pressed with the importance of encouraging 
immigration from America. The question as 
to 

THE NEGRO'S ABILITY TO GOVERN HIMSELF 

is not decided by Liberia. That Government 
is as yet an experiment, of the result of which 
it is difficult to form any forecast. The Libe¬ 
rian people have not even a general name, 
having not attained to the dignity of a nation, 
and being beyond a tribe. Whether the world 
will ever see a great negro nationality is yet 
to be determined. There is nothing now on 
which to form a judgment. They have boi- 
rovved from the United States a form and 
system of government designed for an intelli¬ 
gent, virtuous and progressive people, which 
they are applying to a people with as littie 
virtue and far less intelligence, and appa¬ 
rently utterly lacking the progressiveness of 
the American. The negro has not had as yet a 
fair chance. It must be remembered that this 
is liis first attempt in a really civilized state to 
rule liimself by himself. It is, perhaps, foi- 
tunate that there has been no promiscuous 
streaming in of newly-freed and ignorant 
slaves. The absence of this has afforded au 























50 


opportunity for the laying of a foundation of 
partial education and civilization, on which 
to build. This, of course, has its evils, already 
hinted at. Every man is a proprietor and j 
master. What is wanted now is manual labor i 
and population. As this comes in, one of ! 
two things must happen. Either the people 
will learn what is wanted, and improve the 
Government, or, in blind dissatisfaction, they 
will overturn it, and anarchy will ensue. The jj 
present 

SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 

- is too cumbrous and expensive, and encour- j 
ages petty ambition for offices. When Dr. 
Johnson said that patriotism was the last re¬ 
sort of a scoundrel, he might have added, 
“and a loafer;” besides which it is a well es- | 
tablislied fact that rascality and loafing are j| 
usually the last resorts of a “patriot.” The 1 1 
pernicious doctrine that to be elected to some j 
office by an unreasoning, dirty and fickle j! 
populace is a worthy ambition, seems very 
prevalent here. Consequently large numbers 
of meu who might be developing the country 
and themselves, are constantly engaged in 
either seeking or holding office. Liberia, with 
her 3,500 voters, is a pettier and meaner 
edition of the cesspool of American politics. 
Dozens of miserable small holders of misera¬ 
ble small offices are loafing around destroying 
themselves and eating up the land. There is 
more than one instance of men who have re¬ 
linquished business which was a benefit to 
themselves and the community to participate 
in the struggle for some trifling office. To 
sum up, politics seems destined to be 


TIIE CURSE OF THIS COUNTRY, 

as it is of nearly every other. Here is what i 
these three thousand five hundred voters 
elect, and what they pay: 


Office . Cost. 

President, sal ary.$2,500 

Private clerk. 300 

Runner. 50 

Butler. 200 

Table expenses. 800 


Vice-President. 

-$ 3,850 

Cl) ief-Justice. 

Secretary of State, salary. 

Clerk. 

Runner .... 

.$ 1,000 
. 300 

50 

1 0 rin 

Secretary of Treasury, salary. 

Clerk.. 

Runner 

1 , oOU 

.$ 1,000 

300 
, 50 

Attorney-General. 

Comptroller-General. 

Treasurer. 

1 ,o»)U 

Auditor. 


Legislative expenses... 

Postmaster-General 


A 3 sociate J ustices. 





Office-holders General Government.$25,350 


Four judges’ court quarter ses¬ 
sions (one for each county) $700 

per annum each. 

Four judges monthly and probate 

courts, $300 each. 

Three county superintendents and 

clerks. 

Four county attorneys. 

Three county district attorneys... 

Two local superintendents. 

Six collectors of customs. 

Four postmasters. 

Three “chairmen” eourts. 

Six commissaries. 

Five jailers. 

Two lighthouse keepers. 

Five sub-treasurers. 

Four customhouse clerks. 

Three county auditors. 


$ 2,800 00 


1,200 00 


1,500 00 
1,000 00 
235 00 
425 00 
2,325 00 
275 00 
300 00 
035 00 
800 00 
380 00 
1,050 00 
450 00 
900 00 


Officeholders four counties. 14,875 00 


Total cost, 116 office-holders.. .$40,225 00 


Besides all this comes contingent 


fund general government.$ 2,000 00 

Navy (one cutter). 5,000 00 

Public printing.. 1,000 00 

Revising statutes. 3,000 00 

Lighthouse expenses. 150 00 

Supreme Court. 1,000 00 

E n gl ish postage. *. 1,168 58 

Consul General, London. 600 00 

Stationery. 100 00 

War expenses. 1,566 Hi 

Liberia College. 600 00 


Total.$16,184 74 


Surveying and plotting (count,ies).$ 500 00 

Contingent funds (counties). 3,450 00 

County judicial expenses. 15,500 00 

County public schools. 6,400 00 

County pensions. 2 350 00 

“Rents” (presumably offices for 

county office-holders). 920 00 

Stationery (for use of. county 

office-holders). 470 qq 

“Interest on deposits” iu four 

counties... 3 3 QQ qq 

Outstanding claims (four coun¬ 
ties). 12,983 15 

Fortifications, and other military 

expenses.... 6,000 00 

x ublic buildings, bridges and im¬ 
provements. 26,075 00 

Total .$77,948 15 


Total expenditures general and 
county governments.$134,357 89 

Subtract from this: 

Public schools and Liberia College...$ 7,000 
1 ublic buildings, surveying, & c . 26,575 

$33,575 






























































































pud we have the cost of running the govern¬ 
ment for 3,500 voters— $100,782 89, or, 
Ciphering in round numbers, about $29 for 
each voter. 1 have estimated the number of 
* dice-holders from the legislative appropria¬ 
tion list for 187G-77. The above 116 does 
iiot include a host of magistrates, constables, 


police and petty court officials, who generally 
pick up a precarious livelihood from small fees 
earned from petty squabblings among the 
neighbors, municipal officers, tax collectors, 
&c. From my observation, I think that a 
man and two smart boys could easily do all 
I of the work of the general government. 





CHAPTER VIII. 




PHASES OF LIBERIAN LIFE—POLITICAL ISSUES—TAXATION—TIIE CUR¬ 
RENCY-RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS WITH INCONVERTIBLE PAPER—, 
SHABBY SIIODDYISM—TIIE RELIGIOUS FEELING—CONDITION OF | 


THE SCHOOLS—A CHEERFUL ESTIMATE OF THE COMING 
TION—NO DRUNKENNESS OR BRAWLING—THE JUDICIAL 
LAWYERS WHO CROOK TIIE PREGNANT HINGES—AN 


GEN ERA- 
SYSTEM— I 
AMUSING 


SCENE IN COURT. 


Monrovia., Liberia, June 17.—The | 

principal question that the political parties 
split, on are hard to get at, as hardly any¬ 
body seems to understand them. As well as 
I can make out however, one party (“Repub¬ 
licans” or “True Liberians’’’) favor the 
borrowing of what money is to be borrowed 
by the government from Liberians, and a 
generally conservative course. The other 
side are more liberal, and wish to borrow 
from outside, and also to modify the laws in 
some respects—especially regarding the white 
man. The former party is now in power, 
their ticket having been elected, so it is said, 
by 1,500 majority. Campaigns are warm, 
however, and detachments of the 8,500 
voters manage occasionally to get up very 
decent riots among themselves, there being 
the fullest scope for a display of dema¬ 
gogic. The President tells me that 

TUB GOVERNMENT INCOME 

from duties is about $150,000, and from inter¬ 
nal revenue about $15,000. Total, $165,000. 
The Government tax is half per cent, on real 
estate and personal property, besides which 
there is usually a municipal tax (it must be 
recollected that tire municipal officers, oflice- 
holdcrs and expenses are not included in the 
above estimate) of the same, the total taxes 
being generally one per cent. There are com¬ 
plaints made that property is greatly over¬ 
valued, although as the above revenue re¬ 
turns show taxes paid only on less than | 
$8,000,000 of real and peisonal property in | 
the country, (there being a poll tax of $1) i 
that can hardly be possible. Some person or j 
persons, in England, was or were foolish 1 


enough to make up a loan to the Liberian 
Government of one hundred thousand pounds 
sterling, for which bonds were issued. Some 
of the Liberian oillcials, who -were 6ent to 
London for the mone}, succeeded in “losing’’ 
a considerable portion, while much of the re¬ 
mainder was squandered by a ring composed 
of other Liberian oflicials and English con¬ 
tractors and agents. The public debt is now 
stated to be £30,000, the remaining £70,000 
having either been paid, or “the bond* securing 
\ it havin'! been lost by Vie holders .” That’s the 
tale that somebody told me. Liberia has 
pinned much of her faith on 

“Blest paper credit; last and best s upplv. 

That lends corruption lighter wings to liy.” 

She has a 

PAPER CURRENCY 

gotten up in a style that reminds me forcibly 
of old Confederate dollars. They promise on 
their face to pay the bearer in gold so much, 
no date, however, being specified. As long 
as the government had gold, matters pro¬ 
gressed very well, but by and by a hitch oe- 
j eurred in the arrangements. In 1876 an act 
was passed authorizing the signing and issuing 
of $100,000 additional currency. Then the 
paper went down, and down, until at length 
it became 50 per cent, below par. The act 
authorizing the issue was repealed last year, 
and the currency has been gradually getting 
| back. Now it is only at a discount of from 
12 to 15 per cent. Even this price, however, 
is paid, principally I expect, because the 
money is receivable for duties. There appears 
to be a lack of confidence in the govern¬ 
ment. In the matter of currency, by the 
by, Liberia is thoroughly cosmopolitan. Any 
thing in the shape of money is received. One 
time in a handfull of change for half a 
sovereign I found a Mexican dollar, a French 
Jive franc piece, two English sixpences, 
United States coin and notes, and Liberian 












53 


currency. This is another point of difference j 
between Monrovia and Sierra Leone. At the : 
hitler place anything hut English money was 
rejected scornfully, and Uncle Sam’s promises 
to pay were evidently little trusted. The 
control of politics in Liberia is largely in the 
hands of a class, consisting of the older 
settlers and their descendants. Many of 
these persons are, as before hinted, par ex¬ 
cellence, demagogues. We can respect and j 
sympathise with shabby gentility, (generally, ; 
in the South, on the principle that a fellow 
feeling makes us wondrous kind) and be |j 
dazzled by the displays of shoddyism with its || 
barbaric splendor, bui 

SHABBY SHODDYISM 

is an altogether disgusting spectacle. That is 
the classi n which the political men in Liberia 
most frequently may be found however. 
They will incur trilling debts to Kroo boys 
rather than carry a parcel home through even j 
t he unobservant streets of Monrovia. They 
belong to that species that glories in linen j 
bosom and coarse cotton body to their physi- | 
cal and moral shirts, scrupulously particular 
and vulgarly extravagant as to what is in 
sight, caring nothing how many rents, and 
stains, and crooked brass pins there may be ■ 
beneath the outward gloss either ou mind or 
body, and delighting in cheap champagne 
and flash cigars. 1 formed this opinion from 
my own observation. There are, doubtless, a 
few exceptions, but I saw only a very few. 

1 was not surprised to hear that such per¬ 
sons were anxious to devise means to keep 
back the intelligent and wealthy immigrants, 
whom they expected, and of whom they were 
already jealous. It is only fair to say, how'- ; 
ever, regarding this last statement, that I have i 
it only on hearsay evidence, and that the i 
general run of people seem to appreciate the 
importance of immigration, and to be anxious M 
to encourage and disposed heartily to wel¬ 
come it. I will dismiss the subject of poli¬ 
tics with the statement that there is said on 
good authority to be a deficiency of $L2,000 j 
and over in the budget this year, which is at- ! 
tributed to war debts. This government is | 
fortunate in having no paupers to look out 
for. The President says there are only tw'o of j 
that class in the territory. This speaks well 
for the soil. One thing gives me hope of 
Liberia, and that is the apparently 

UNIVERSAL RELIGIOUS FEELING. 

From the highest to the lowest ail seem to 
have an unalterable faith in the Almighty, 
ami believe in llis active interference in 
human affairs. Solomon was a wise man, 
and knew more and had seen more of real 
life than nine hundred and ninety-nine thou¬ 
sandths of us with all our steam and tele¬ 
graph, and when he said “in all thy ways ac¬ 
knowledge Him and lie shall direct thy 
paths,” he must have meant it. Or looking 
at it from an entirely outside standpoint, 
there is another proposition. Christianity, 
where it exists, must be progressive. lor 
that we have the word of its greatest, exem¬ 


plars aud teachers. The progressiveness of 
Christianity is certainly towards per¬ 
fection, and the nearer a people approach 
perfection their creations must keep pace. 
This isn’t a sermon, but a practical view of 
matters, which the veriest infidel cau agree 
with. Churches are everywhere, and in 
almost every settlement in Liberia. The 
Methodists largely predominate, but there are 
quite a number of Baptists, with a fair sprink¬ 
ling of Presbyterians, aud some Episcopa¬ 
lians. Of the latter church the Rt. Rev. Dr. 
Penick, a Virginia clergyman, is the bishop. 
His residence is at Grand Cape Mount, and l 
had no opportunity of seeing him, but on all 
sides he is most highly spoken of both as a 
minister and a man. From all accounts he is 
setting the Liberians a good example of the 
quaintly expressed principle, 

“Pray to God devoutly, 

And hammer away stoutly,” 

as I was told of his having been engaged in 
the woods, cutting away with his own hands, 
preparing timber. The missionary Society of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church has its agents 
always at work here too, and is one of the 
props of Liberia. Its drafts are printed, and 
circulate here at par, as currency. This 
society supports a number of primary and in¬ 
termediate 

SCHOOLS, 

and with the government schools there is a 
well attended institution of learning in every 
settlement. Besides the children of settlers, 
a number of those of the natives attend. 
There is, thanks to this American society, no 
lack of educational facilities, although £he 
government schools are said to be much in¬ 
jured by political wire-working obtruding on 
their management. It is very rare to meet a 
Liberian who cannot read aud write, and most 
of them have progressed much further. Be¬ 
sides these, there is Liberia College, supported 
and controlled by the New York Colonization 
Society and another body; the Alexandria 
High School, supported by somebody else, 
and the Monrovia Seminary, under the auspi¬ 
ces of the A. M. E. Church Missionary Society, 
and of which Rev. Royall J. Kellogg is princi¬ 
pal. The Liberians manifest the same inert¬ 
ness regarding- their schools that they do 
about everything else. Politics are allowed to 
mix in the public schools, and the appropria¬ 
tion for their support is spoken of as “merely 
nominal.” 

LIBERIA COLLEGE, 

albeit it has turned out “the best men in the 
country,” has been allowed to languish of 
late years, for, as I gather, lack of elllciency 
in the board of trustees and president. Dr. 
l’inney has been recently sent out from 
America to take charge of it, and while he 
rushes energetically about devising improve¬ 
ments, &c., the Liberians, for whose benefit 
he is working, staud back and stare, and ex¬ 
press the opinion that he is crazy. I think 
that Mr. Keilogg, who has recently come out, 
has adopted the best plan. It is probable 


0 














54 


that much of the Liberian’s constitutional dis- ! 
like to doing anything for themselves, is due I 
to their having learned to depend so much on j 
iheir American backers. Mr. Kellogg is 
teaching that most valuable of all lessons— j 
independence. All who are able to pay for | 
the instruction of their children are required 
to do so. The system in vogue in public 
schools in America has been adopted in this } 
institution, which has been opened since I 
have been here. The scholars had already I 
acquired the drill, marching, tfec., when vis¬ 
ited a week after the opening, and the opera- I 
tious were well under weigh. There were 
ninety scholars, (all pay,) divided up into ap¬ 
propriate classes aud departments, and they j 
seemed generally intelligent and well ad- I 
vauced for their respective ages. The in- I; 
structors “skip about” in the lessons, and the ! 
pupils’ answers give evidence that they un¬ 
derstand what they say, and have not merely 
learned by rote. Generally, I think that 

THE COMING GENERATION OF LIBERIANS 

promises to be a considerable improvement ! 
on the present one. Mr. Kellogg has intro- jj 
duced a number of novelties, beyond those 
already stated, including the telephone in a 
miniature form. This gentleman cannot fail 
to make a good impression upon all who are 
brought inio contact with him. It is en- jj 
couraging to see that he is already being 
much looked up to, as he may be able to j! 
exert a most beneilcial influence. He seems ! 
just Yankee enough to set an examole of ; 
shrewdness, energy and enterprise, and true { 
man enough to teach morality, honor and the 
arts and sciences along with them. Probably 
one of the chief causes of 


are fifteen policemen, who wear no uuiforms 
or badge of authority. They stand on corners 
and expectorate, however, as gracefully and 
vigilantly as any other guardians of the peace, 
although the American officer does possess a 
great advantage in having a club to swing on 
a red cord, There are jails in nearly every 
settlement, but they rarely confine anybody 
except petty criminals. I think most of the 
work the jailer at Monrovia has to do is to 
keep the cows out of the building. It resem¬ 
bles the ordinary country jail in the South, 
but, from what I saw, I can’t see why any 
man should stay in unless he wanted to. 

TIIE JUDICIAL SYSTEM 

resembles that of South Carolina. There is 
first the magistrates’ court, then come the 
monthly aud probate courts for each county; 
from this appeal may be taken to a court of 
quarter sessions, and from it to the Supreme 
Court which sits in Monrovia, and is composed 
of a chief justice and two associates. The 
courts seem to have little to do, there being 
not much litigation. Although a number of 
petty larcenies are being constantly perpe¬ 
trated, the “bush” is so handy that the 
depredators, who are generally natives, flee 
thereto, and escape, even should pursuit be 
l»e made. Petty assaults are usually disposed 
of by the magistrates. Petty thieving is a 
source of great annoyance to planters, natives 
and others picking small quantities of green 
cohee while passiug along, which they find 
plenty of storekeepers to purchase. Even in 
Liberia, therefore, the much maligned shot¬ 
gun is greatly relied on as an enforcer of the 
rights of property. “Anti-green coffee shop 
clubs” may be in the near future. 


LIBERIAN BACKWARDNESS 
is that in the arrogance of newly acquired 
social equality, they have refused to heed 
counsel, aud shut out white meu who, better 
educated aud more experienced, might have 
taught them something. I doubt if it would 
be advisable to change the laws regarding 
white men as yet. The Caucasian has a 
trick of shoving weaker and less intelligent 
people to the wall when brought into con¬ 
tact. with them, and were he allowed to over¬ 
run this country, with his superior advan¬ 
tages, it would not be long before the col¬ 
ored brother would be either relegated to his 
former back seat, or forced to move on. As 
before mentioned, the few white men here 
have invariably gone far ahead and made 
thousands, while the Liberians were slowly 
accumulating hundreds. In this state of 
affairs such men as Bishop Penick and Mr. 
Kellogg, who can act as the people’s exem¬ 
plars without being their rivals, must be of 
inestimable benefit. 

NO “DRUNK AND DISORDERLYS.” 

Monrovia, and in fact all of the towns 
through Liberia, seem to be very orderly and 
quiet. I have not seen a single drunken or 
disorderly person. A municipal police system 
is maintained, however. In Monrovia "there 


iUE BAR 


does not seem to be one of great ability. I 
attended the quarterly court where a suit for 
damages was in progress. The proceedings 
were opened by the reading of the journal of 
the previous day; after which the judge put 
the question whether or no the minutes 
should be confirmed, and kept on putting it 
until every one of the four lawyers present 
voted aye. Altogether there seemed to be 
a delightful absence of those formalities and 
accessories which make the administration of 
the law so terrible and grim elsewhere. There 
were no gowns, no cocked-hats, no swords 
no tipstaves, only one bald-headed man, and 
but about twenty constables. There was 
not even a man with a paper collar on to 
stand at the door and deafen everybody bv 
yelhug ‘silence !” aud no piles of law books 
and green oags to fill the spectator with dark 
forebodings. The only book I saw was a copy 
of the statutes of Liberia. There wasn’t 
e\ en an almanac, for when the judge wanted 
to see what date a certain day would fall 
on he had to Jean over the desk and look 
atthe tin calendar hung to the clerk’s watch 

nfii nnn ? CUthe 3« r y brought in a verdict 
of *1,000 damages for plaintiff, the consta¬ 
bles hastily dispersed themselves to the four 
winds in a state of apparent but to me inex.- 













plicable excitement. Honorable counsel for 
| plaintiff and ditto ditto for defendant (the 
i latter in a very short jacket and having the 
general appearance of an insolvent hotel 
waiter) sprang simultaneously to their feet, 
and each claimed the car of' the court, the 
former with a motion to record the verdict, 
and the latter proposing to have it set aside 
as being contrary to the law and the evidence. 

I .Each seemed to think that it was a matter of 
vital importance to have his say first, claim¬ 
ing the floor on the* ground that he had first 
spoken. 'I he judge ordered both to sit 

down several times, to which thev responded 
by easing very gradually to their seats, 
keeping one eye on each other, and suddenly 
straightening out their legs and coming on 
their feet again. Finally the honorable coun¬ 
sel entered into verbal compact, each binding 
himself to sit down if the other would. From 
this scene i would judge that the legal talent 
of the country lies in the supple hinges of the 
knee, the advocate who can come to his feet 
quickest being the successful one. When it 
is said, therefore, of a Liberian attorney that 
he is a rapidly rising young man, it is high 
praise, and the man who waits is not the suc¬ 
cessful man. The Judge, on this occasion, 
after consulting the Statute book, and after 
several attempts on the part of honorable 
counsel for the defence to put the, motion 
properly in writing, set a day for the hearing 
of argument, on the motion to set aside. This 
Judge, by the way, is 

ANOTREIi VIRGINIAN, 

being from Richmond, and laid aside his 
dignity for a time to talk of old times and old 
people, and the “new market.” Virgiuiaus 
seem to about run the machine here. I expect 
that from them the Liberians inherit the 
delusion that they are constantly occupy¬ 
ing a large share of the world’s atten¬ 
tion, that being a weakness of the 
Old Dominion. In fact many of our 

Southern foibles obtain here. When I heard 
“our colleges have turned out world renowned 
scholars, our soil is the most fertile, and our 
f climate the most salubrious, our men brave 
| and our women handsome,” I could have sat 
I me down and wept, at hearing the familiar 
j song of Zion in a strange land. Another 
! peculiarity which the Liberians, despite their 
peace and good will platform, seem to have 
brought from the South with them is the 

PASSION FOR FIREARMS. 

1 don’t think it a manifestation of a blood¬ 
thirsty spirit, but a Southern man who does 
not delight in the owning and handling of a 
handsome rifle, a fine shotgun or an improved 


pistol is a rarity, and the same remark will 
hold good of the Liberians, there being hardly 
one, as far as my knowledge goes, who is not 
the possessor of several of those instruments, 
j The favorite revolver appears to be the old- 
j fashioned Colt, which Mr. Thomast Nast de- 
i lights to delineate in the hands of the South¬ 
ern white man who is not a Republican. I 
1 don’t think the practice of carrying such toys 
is at all an uncommon one. One or two cases 
I heard incidentally mentioned, where one 
individual had either “drawn a pistol” or 
“levelled a shotgun,” and administered a 
quietus to some other individual. At one or 
two places there was quite a collection of old- 
fashioned regulation duelling pistols, but the 
owners appearing to be profoundly ignorant 
of all the usages and requirements of “the 
Code,” it is probable that they are intended 
more for show than use. The carrying of 
arms here, however, is not without excuse, 
as the natives occasionally seek to wreak pri¬ 
vate vengeance through the medium of 
A HANDFUL OF SLUGS 

fired from a bush. In Monrovia there is a 
yard and garden tastefully arranged, enclosed 
in a neat iron fence, and adorned with care¬ 
fully planted trees and flowers, in the midst 
of which are four stone walls—the beginning 
1 of a large house. This place was to have been 
the residence of a successful Liberian planter 
and merchant named Wilson. From its ap¬ 
pearance, it would have beer, undoubtedly 
i j by far the handsomest residence in Monrovia, 

1 and an ornament to the town. The owner, 

; however, had incurred the bitter hatred of 
the natives in some way, and, after several 
; attempts to poison him, he was shot and killed 
: one evening while walking in a path through 
I the bush, for which deed one or two natives 
were subsequently tried and hanged. His 
new house was just well under way there, and 
the widow either lacked the spirit or means 
to complete it. She keeps the garden and 
yard, however, in good order, and even now* 
it presents a very attractive appearance, giv¬ 
ing an idea of what a beautiful place Mon¬ 
rovia could be made by a little care and atten¬ 
tion. I have seen few floral novelties, our 
common roses, coxcombs and white lilies 
being the general reliance. There is, how¬ 
ever, a bright scarlet lily which grows wild, 
and is very beautiful; a “coral plant,” the 
flower of which exactly resembles a branch 
of coral, a pretty variously colored “Jacob s 
coat,” a horribly suggestive “leprosy plant,” 
with partially white leaves, the hybisca, the 
sensitive plant, an inferior violet, and a few 
others coming under the general term 
i “pretty.” 











CHAPTER IX. 


tiie 


BLACK REPUBLIC—IS LIBERIA THE 


PLACE FOR THE SOUTHERN 


COLORED M AN ?—MR. WILLIAMS’S CONCLUSIONS AND ADVICE- 
JOURNALISM IN MONROVIA—JEALQUSY OF A CONSPICUOUS COL¬ 
ORED MAN—A POPULATION SENSITIVE TO CRITICISM OF THEIR 


COUNTRY—THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CLIMATE AND 
FEVER—WILL JOHN BULL GOBBLE LIBERIA?—THE 
IMMIGRANTS—WHAT THEY SHOULD BRING WHEN 
LAZINESS THE BANE OF LIBERIAN CIVILIZATION. 


TIIE AFRICAN 
CHANCES FOR 
THEY COME— 


Monrovia, Liberia, June 17, 1878.— 

There is a newspaper in Monrovia. It is styled 
the Observer, is published semi-monthly, and 
reminds one forcibly of American country 
papers before the war, being filled with long 
letters on all sorts of subjects, from “Nestor,” 
“Jasper,” “Subscriber,” &c., which fill up 
many of its sixteen columns, it being a four 
page journal. The correspondence compares 
very favorably, however, with the general 
run of “communications” before they have 
been “dressed up,” “boiled down” or re¬ 
written by a man in the oflice. The editorials 
and Supreme Court reports are really well 
done, and show that there is brains and learn¬ 
ing somewhere in the Republic. I should 
like a situation on such a paper. 
Think, oh brother ouill drivers, of the 
luxury of having two whole weeks in which 
to get up and arrange a column of local news ! 
That would be compensation enough of itself 
without any salary. The Observer seems to 
have had a flickering sort of existence, occa¬ 
sionally disappearing mysteriously, and then 
reappearing under another name. ” The pres¬ 
ent issue is a very creditable one, and, from 
its tone, will be of great advantage to the 
country if encouraged. It is well printed and 
neatly gotten up, and contains very few typo¬ 
graphical errors. There is a good font of 
type and a press here, and I am especially re¬ 
quested to say that one or two good printers 
are 'wanted—colored ones, of course. The 
Observer's correspondence, I notice, is disposed 
to attack the President for ignoring his secre¬ 
tary of State and appointing 

DU. BLYDEN, 

as minister to England, over his opposition, 
iieai (1 of this minister at Sierra Leone and 1 


elsewhere, and from all accounts he is pro¬ 
bably the ablest colored man in the world. 
There can be no doubt of his great natural 
ability, and from what I can see and hear, he 
is well calculated to hold bis own as a literary 
man and a thinker anywhere. Yet, among 
some of the Liberians there is a prejudice 
against and opposition to him, which is re¬ 
markable. Jealousy, I fancy. At any rate, 
the manifestations of this feeling seem to 
have still more deeply damned the Liberians 
in the estimation of the people of Sierra 
Leone, who know and seem greatly to admire 
the doctor. I also find in the Observer , which 
I read thoroughly as an index of public sent i- 
I merit, a most savage attack upon 

J. MILTON TURNER, 

colored, the late American consul-general, 
lie is bitterly denounced on all hands, and 
|| charged with being a drunkard, a liar and an 
adulterer. A Liberian very complacently 
!i gave me an account of one or two attempts 
i to mob this consul by indignant citizens, and 
1 of his having been forced to take his de¬ 
parture “between two suns.” From my ob¬ 
servation, I do not believe that Liberian virt ue 
has attained to such a pitch as to involve an 
indignity to the United States Government 
and the mobbing of its minister as au invol¬ 
untary manifestation of the detestation of the 
three vices above named. It, is much more 
probable that the cause of the trouble was 
the wounding of the Liberian self-conceit by 
the consul, in letters of lii3 published iii 
America, llis jocular remark that “for six 
months, iri Liberia, it is as dry as the tra¬ 
ditional powder horn, and the other six it 
rains as if there was a contract with Noah,” 
seems to have offended the National pride, as 
much as mine, to the effect that it was “a 
good forgotten, turkey trottin’ place any- 
bwr,-/> as reported by George Curtis. They 
will never forgive either of us. In fact, it 
was intimated that, had not “the boys” been 
busy drilling on the day of the meeting, your 
correspondent might have fallen a victim to 














57 


the just indignation of an outraged 

[t is 

1I1GII TREASON 


people. 


o whisper a word against the country; and 
noue of its citizens dare to say that they are 
not, prosperous and delighted until at a safe 
listance. As those who are here have nothing 
jut, praise for Liberia, those who have left 
aid been unsuccessful have nothing but 
ibuse. Besides this, disinterested persons 
vho see Monrovia only, pronounce the whole 
'ouptry a stagnant hell, while those who go 
>ack of the town, under a revulsion of feei¬ 
ng, speak of it as a heaven without blemish. 
Persons coming under the latter impression 
i>c disappointed, and see things worse than 
hey are. So Liberia is as much injured by 
ier friends as her enemies, i will say for 
nyself that I came perfectly unbiased one 
*ay or the other, having purposely prevented 
nyself from forming any judgment as to 
*hether I was coming to an “Eden” like 
Martin Chuzzlcwit’s or like the original one. 


THE CLIMATE 


* assuredly a most delightful one, so far as 
temperature is concerned, the thermometer 
never falling below 70, and very rarely rising 
ibove 93. It generally ranges between SO 
ind 90 during the “dries,” and between 70 
xnd 80 during the rains. Trees, vegetables 
tnd liowers retain their verdure, bear and 
doom throughout the year. The rains begin 
to fall about the middle or latter part of May, 
ind continue until October or November, 
Muring this time the raiu comes down regu- 
arly during a large portion of several days 
md nights in the week. Now and then 
here is a clear day during this time, and in 
Italy come what are known as the “middle 
dries,” that is, a week or tw*o of clear weather 
without rain. At the expiration of this sea¬ 
son the wetness continues to wetten, as Josh 
Hillings says, until the expiration of the 
term. It is a mistake to suppose that 

THE FEVEIt 

Iocs not affect persons back from the coast, 
it. seenis to visit all new settlers wherever they 
,o unless great care is taken, although in the 
uterior it assumes more of the form of our 
amiliar fev’r n’ ager.” Old residents tell me, 
mwever, that the fever is “nothing” to what 
was formerly, before the bush was cleared 
way. I can believe this, for in Freetown, 
which is well built up and kept cleared, Euro¬ 
peans do not seem to dread the disease at all, 
.nd many of them have not had it although 
iliey have resided there for some time. At 
Monrovia a number of the mulatto children 
whom I sa\v about the river side struck me as 
toking frail and unhealthy. At the schools, 
iowever, there were many chubby 
heeks, and as much apparent health 
''xisted among the children as among a 
collection of juveniles anywhere. Monrovia 
is a sea breeze almost constantly, and if it 
■ere properly cleared up and the rank vege¬ 
tation kept down there is no reason why it 

8 


should not be perfectly healthy so far as I can 
see. There is not generally much disease 
here, and there has been nothing of an infec¬ 
tious nature since the small-pox, which was 
very severe a number of years ago. The peo¬ 
ple here are uot like the natives at Sierra 
Leone, who prefer having that disease, con¬ 
sidering the “pits” highly ornamental. Apro¬ 
pos of the mulattoes spoken of above, there 
seems to be a large preponderance of persons 
having more or less white blood among the 
inhabitants, many of them being very light. 
A majority of the ollices of trust and emolu¬ 
ment seem to this complexion to have come 
at last, although about the most intelligent 
and sensible man I have seen is as black as 
the ace of spades. Still most of the leadimr 
men bear traces of white blood. There is a 
possibility that the experiment of a black 
man’s government may be nipped iu the 
bud by 

OUR FRIEND JOHNNY BULL. 

Not long ago the Liberian navy, as herein¬ 
before described, boarded and took possession 
of a British trading vessel, on the charge of 
smuggling. Thereupon one of John’s gun- 
boots ran down and presented to the colored 
brother the alternative of “getting out o’ 
that” vessel and releasing her, or having the 
town knocked into “smithereens.” Liberia 
gave up the ship without more ado. Besides 
this, the Liberians claim that British vessels 
are constantly countenanced by her Majesty’s 
officers in a system of smuggling along the 
coast. They also claim that English influence 
is at the bottom of the attacks on them by 
the natives. The attention of Englishmen 
has been turned to Liberia’s coifee facilities, 
and I am told that arrangements are on foot • 
! for them to go into the cultivation of the 
plant extensively, on leased land. Liberia 
would, undoubtedly, be a valuable possession 
in proper hands, and its ownership would go 
far towards completing the chain of English 
seaports on the West Coast, and helping 
that country to monopolize the trade of the 
entire African continent, which with its 
ivories, gold, precious stones, vegetable and 
other productions, seems destined to assume 
immense proportions. AH these things con¬ 
sidered, it is not impossible that John may 
land two or three regiments some day, on 
some pretext, and gobble Liberia, as is his 
wont, without winking. This would be a 
subject of regret, insomuch as it would pre¬ 
vent the completion of an interesting experi¬ 
ment, but that it would be the best possible 
chance that could befall the experimenters 
no one who has seen a British colony and 
contrasted it with Liberia can doubt. The 
iron hand of England from which, in these 
parts at least, the kid glove is never removed 
except where the patient becomes fractious, 
would protect and establish the Liberians, 
while English enterprise, industry and capital 
would develop the resources of the country, 
aiding her citizens to make money while their 
legal and social equality would be better 




















58 


maintained than it can be now. Nobody who | 
witnesses the tranquillity, prosperity and gen¬ 
eral contentment prevailing in Sierra Leone j 
can fail to be impressed with the fact that 

BRITISH RULE 

there, at least, must be firm and humane. 
The blackest people there, with few excep- j 
tions, are thoroughly and completely English ! 
in feeling, thought, manners and customs, j 
and applaud “God Save the Queen” with as | 
much apparent sincerity as an audience of j 
genuine Britons could do. 

Now, after all 1 have been writing, comes 
the question, What after my personal obser¬ 
vation, do I think of Liberia and of a general 
immigration of the colored people hither ? I 
will try and answer the question so that the 
colored people themselves can understand it. 
Liberia is undoubtedly 

A MAGNIFICENT COUNTRY, 

and possesses a soil which it is hard to beat, j 
There is money to be made here, and lots of - j 
it. But it will take hard work, thrift and | 
good management to get it. Then there is a 
risk to be run of fever and other disease. A 
man who can work, manage, restrain his ap¬ 
petites, put up with hard living for awhile, j 
and be prudent and careful, has all the 
chances iu his favor for getting well through 
the sickness. Patience will have to be exer¬ 
cised too. Above all things, no man should 
come without six months’ full provisions,a sup- j 
ply of simple medicines, a little ready money, I 
and all the bright calicoes, brass trinkets, no- j 
tions and leaf tobacco he can lay his hands ; 
on. These will be worth double their value ' 
here to trade with, or pay natives for work. 
Halt is always valuable here too. In the inte¬ 
rior the natives lick visitors’ hands for the 
salty taste of the perspiration. He should try 
and arrange to have as little to buy here, and 
to depend as little on the Liberians as possi¬ 
ble. Those who have two hundred dollars 
or three hundred dollars over their passage 
money, and can iill the rest of the above bill, 
will, I am sure, have a much better chance of 
becoming independent here than in America. 
Those who fall short, and come expecting to J 
find a heaven on earth, in which they will 
have to work no more, and who are unpro¬ 
vided with means, will soon become disap¬ 
pointed and disgusted, and want to get back 
to America. Many have come here and gone 
away to abuse the country, but I think they 
generally belong to the class last named. I 
can see no earthly reason why a careful, well ! 
provided and good emigrant cannot, by a few 
years’ faithful work, achieve independence. 
There should be as large a proportion of able- 
bodied hands brought along as possible. I 
The mar. who has no sons or brothers to help { 
him can well afford to bring along two, three, I 
four or five single nephews, cousins or friends. 
They can all draw land, if twenty-one years >1 
of age, and immigrants 

SHOULD DEPEND ON THEMSELVES 
for labor and everything else, as far as pos.si- i! 


ble. They should also bring a supply of 
matchets, hoes, Ac., and garden seed. In 
short they should equip themselves com¬ 
pletely in America. The first three or four 
months will be lost here, in building, fever, 
&e., and for some time after that it will not 
be prudent to work between 10 A. M. and 2 
F. M. They must remember, too, that the 
land given them is not fenced meadow. It is 
a dense growth of woods, brush and grass, 
which will have to be cleared, and the sooner 
that is done the better. Every cargo of such 
immigrants that comes here greatly strength¬ 
ens the country, and the more it is settled the 
easier row the new comers will have 
to hoe. Let no one come here depending on 
the government or people for aid. He won’t 
get it. Neither are in a condition to help 
anybody much, and they have strained a 
point in favor of these present immigrants. 
One thing I forgot—bring plenty of powder 
and shot. They are always useful, not for 
killing anybody, but for game, &c., and pow¬ 
der especially is very high, the government’s 
specific duty on it being oc. per pound. It is 
the same, by the way, on tobacco, and the 
ad valorem duties are 12% per cent. When 
the immigrant arrives here he should go to 
his place as soon as possible, and get to work, 
lie should not bother his head about 
politics. They will only make him 
enemies where lie needs friends, and take 
his attention from his business. If England 
should take a notion to gobble Liberia, and 
the immigrant has to march out with the 
militia, my advice to him is, as soon as lie j 
sees the red coats to fire his gun in the air, 
then run home with it, and stay there. If 
our forefathers had had sense enough to do 
that, the negroes would have been free and 
paid for fifty years ago, educated and pros- 1 
perous; we would never have heard of I 
Chamberlain, Scott, Kimpton or any of their j 
gang, and there wouldn’t have been any 1 
“great civil war.” Englishmen will not I 
confiscate private property, nor interfere with 
peaceful citizens, and they are perfectly will¬ 
ing to gratify colonists by allowing them to \ 
vote once or twice a year for members'* of a ! 
council or something, (which don’t amount j 
to a row of pins) and the principle of univer- ! 
sal equalit}' is strictly carried out. I would 
not take the responsibility of advising the I 
colored people to come here. I will say, 
however, that if they arc willing to take the ! 
risks and able to fulfil the requirements as 
above stated, they will here have their own 
lands, be among their own color, and have 
perfect social equality, a certainty,almost, of a ! 
comfortable living, and a fair chance for 
wealth on coffee, sugar or cotton plantations, 
either of which will be so much sure income 
after a few years. 

NO MORE SHOULD COME 

without haying arrangements made for their 
transportation and location, so that they can 
go to their new homes immediately on ar¬ 
rival, and not have to stop in Monrovia and 
















spend money. It seems to me that the best 
plan is to get lands a little back of the pre¬ 
sent settlements on the St. Paul’s, so as to be 
near stores, schools,, churches, river and 
neighbors. It is also probably best for the 
persons composing each cargo to settle as 
near together as possible. By spreading the 
settlers back from the river, new land can be 
taken up and occupied without the discom¬ 
fort and dangers incident to the wilderness. 
A good physician should certainly accompany 
the next shipload of immigrants. He could 
do well on the St. Paul’s. Those who come 
here should be particularly careful about 
fruit, and eat it only very moderately, as any 
excess is very dangerous. 

TILE GREAT DANGER HERE, 

and what keeps the country and people back 
so, is that a mere living is so easily made 
that settlors get in the habit of being satisfied 


with that, and loafing. Besides this, the cli¬ 
mate is undoubtedly enervating to a new 
comer, and the enforced partial idleness of 
the first year or two is apt to increase the in¬ 
disposition to labor. The land and country 
about Grand Cape Mount is enthusiastically 
spoken of by visitors, the former as 
being wonderfully fertile, and the lat¬ 
ter as possessing almost inconceivable 
beauty of scenery. The settlements there 
are very sparse, but it may be advantageous 
for the next cargo to land and settle there. 
This can best be arranged by the emigrants 
themselves. Grand Bassa is also well spoken 
of, and it is said that great inducements are 
held out by persons located there. One col¬ 
ored man there, who is the leading merchant 
in Liberia, docs an “immense” business, and 
is said to be worth $^50,000. It may be 
mentioned here that several moderate for¬ 
tunes have been made in trading in and about 
Monrovia, besides those on the river. 







CHAPTER X 


LAST WORDS FROM LIBERIA—PROSPECTS OF TIIE IMMIGRANTS WHEN 
“THE AZOR" SAILED WHERE THEY WILL PROBABLY SETTLE- 
WELL PLEASED SO FAR-CLEMENT IRONS AGAIN—ALL DETERMIN¬ 
ED TO STICK AT IT-SOME MORE DEATHS—A BACKSLIDER AND 
HIS STORY-SPLENDID CONDUCT OF CAPTAIN HOLMES-IIOME- 
WARD BOUND—END OF TIIE CHRONICLE. 


Monrovia, June 17.-Where the Azov's 
passengers will finally locate it is very hard 
to say. No arrangements having been made 
f(ii them, they are totally at sea, and the 
numerous advisers who gather around, each 
eagerly arguing the claims of his own favorite 
section, increase the difficulties of coming to 
a decision. 1 he great probability is, though, 
that most of them will settle a little w^ay 
back from the St. Paul’s River. In two or 
throe days from now some of the leading men 
will go up that river to look around, but 
there is hardly a chance of their becoming 
permanently located before the latter part of 
July. The government and a number of the 
people are very much interested in them, and 
it is very certain that they will not be allowed 
to suffer. One of my chief reasons for think¬ 
ing that they will settle on the St. Paul’s is 
Uiat this part of the country is easier of 
access than any other. Trausuorlation is 
very slow, very hard to get and very expen¬ 
sive, and at this season quite dangerous to 
strangers. Besides this, the two or three 
who have already been exploring seem de¬ 
lighted with the county thereabouts. 

the immigrants 

have continued to be tolerably comfortable, 
and the landing of their furniture has made 
their condition much more tolerable. Many 
have been imprudent in eating fruit which 

SS/ff < >ases «ncS 

inose landing. One family, j n two or iIudd 

St "' t,praI »<«*« mango ties 
" eon TMsIl ,T y " f tl,<! >“»ngoes*beh^ 

loitniw of WUh what hnf that I , happen 

procured from the a£ i"™ tb< * 

"W have Tnoney" 
have been vcr^oS^ 


Of them seem well pleased so far, and some 
have sent for their friends to come. One head 
of a family only seems discouraged, and ex¬ 
presses a wish to return. The others seem 
disposed to re-echo the sentiments expressed 
(whether sincerely or no, I can’t say,) by 
most of the Liberians, who say that they 
would not leave the country for any induce¬ 
ment that, could be offered. ‘ Several planters 
I nave expressed 

A DESIRE TO HIRE IMMIGRANTS 

to work on their farms, and I beard one or 
two offer to house several families gratis in 
the country until their own places were lit for 
occupation. A few of the Azov's people who 
ate rather better off than the general run may 
locate at Grand Cape Mount. Clement Irons 
the lmliwnght has received several advan¬ 
tageous offers from persons along the St. 

I aul «, and will doubtless locate there. The 

f'!vor5n nt ^ gener * 1, y seern to have made a 

wilhTho t/ i ni! r SS10U I aud fraten <ize rapid I v 
ith the Liberians. Arrangements have been 

roDRiMM? th ^ readers of The News and 
of all of ,h y adv ‘ fied the fate and doings 
hinb u the meinber8 of immigration. I 
think they are generally of 

the right stuff 

to succeed. They, one and all, avow their 
tEr- aud ^ determ ina- 

somethin? ah n Ullti l accomplish 
' * 1 have, as before mentioned 

a good supply of seeds of various sorts Sev¬ 
eral valuable and useful pieces of machinery 
a® 1 D Ploughs, Ac., were also brought alon'"’ 

So far as it is possible to judge, they will 

rv V e e becn terPri6iDg and energ “ tic - Wrc 

SEVERAL DEATHS 

6inC<! , landta *. «•« deceased In 

ksh m- fh. g J ‘o' n 8ltl< wl ‘™ brought 
ashore, these were, Simon Williams Jr of 

died on°Z y ’™ a ' ; ,' nfant - (whow moiiioJ 
- u , I ,assa k r e.) grandchild of Boat¬ 
swain Seigler, of Edgefield S <’ • „ , 

child of Joshua Phillips, of Nffiety-6i£ c ~ 
an Infant of Ned Clark, (bon, on (he pi^ge) 
Clarendon, and a grandchild of Howell 




















01 


lylor, of Humwell County, S. C. Those who 
uo not wish to settle in Liberia, permanently 
had best not come, as it is a matter of some 
uiificulty to get away again, lly law 

NO LIIIEKIAN CITIZEN CAN LEAVE THE TEKHI- 
TOIIY 

without, a passport signed by the secretary of 
Slate, to obtain which he lias to give ten or 
lifteen days’ public notice of his intended de¬ 
parture. A day or two after our arrival a 
colored man named Morrow came to the 
landing and inquired as to the terms he could 
•'lake for a passage back to Charleston with 
Ids family. lie has only been here 
four months, having come under the 
auspices of the Colonization Society 
from Mississippi, and seemed very 
anxious to get back. When interviewed 
he answered questions about the country in a 
shifting, hesitating way, saying that he liked 
it ‘‘tolerably" and might come back, and that, 
be was going to America to carry a “widow 
woman” whose husband had left her. It 
struck me as curious that he should take his 
wife, three or four children and a relative’s 
family back across the Atlantic as an escort 
for one “widow woman,” hut he explained 
that he did not want to “part them.” Accord¬ 
ingly lie made his arrangements, and a few 
days afterwards appeared in a boat with 
family, hag and baggage, and went aboard. 
After that he was occupied for several days in 
trying to obtain leave to go from the civil 
olllcers. He is still very reticent, and refuses 
to talk or commit himself in any way. His 
desire to leave, whatever may he its cause, 
is very fortunate for the Azov. Capt. Holmes 
having, as far as was in his power, compen¬ 
sated for the neglect of the company by dis¬ 
tributing the remaining ship’s stores among 
the emigrants, was placed in 

AN EMBARRASSING POSITION 

concerning provisions to get hack with. Geo. 
Curtis had so persistently and industriously 
circulated rumors of the bad linancial con¬ 
dition of the Steamship Company, that the 
Liberians, notwithstanding their protestations 
of interest and of desire to purchase stock, 
refused to cash drafts. Thus the passage 
money of this man came in very well, enabling 
i lie captain to procure a supply of such pro- 
vender as Liberia can furnish, consisting 
mainly of inferior quality pork, salt beef and 
Hour, purchased from EtoreKeepers at high 
figures, who in turn had purchased them from 
America at. high figures. There is one matter 
which has been spoken of before, but which 
simple justice demands should he reiterated 
until 1C Is thoroughly understood. 

CAPT. 110I.ME8 

can in uo way he held responsible for the 
mistakes and sins of the Steamship Company. 
I have no earthly interest in that gentleman, 
and hardly an acquaintance with him, except 
in an official capacity. I would not he candid, 
however, did I not state the result of obser¬ 
vations through the whole of the tiying voy¬ 


age. He has in every possible way rectified 
t.lie errors of the owners, unhesitatingly 
taking on several occasions grave responsi¬ 
bilities which many men would shrink 
I from. He has been the friend, treasurer, 
counsellor and physician for the Aw’.s pas¬ 
sengers, besides fultilling his own duties as 
master. The weather we have had here has 
| justified the wisdom of his decisiou to tow 
from Sierra Leone. There has not beeu wind 
enough in a fortnight to sail here with against 
the coast current, and through all that time 
the pestilence would certainly have been 
raging, and the average of deaths could not 
; have been less than that of the few days pre¬ 
ceding our arrival—two per diem. Whoever 
may be to blame, and however much they 
may be blamed for the misfortunes of the 
voyage, the captain and his first mate are en¬ 
titled only to unqualified praise; and I mean 
it. 1 speak with particular feeling on this 
last matter, having myself felt the chest 
burnings which presaged the fatal fever, 
which gives me an idea that, had it not been 
for that Sierra Leone vie it and the rapid tran¬ 
sit here, I would by this have been perma¬ 
nently located somewhere on the African 
coast, held in position by a rock. 

TO-NIUIIT THE AZOR SAILS 

on her return voyage, and I have decided to 
return with her. The difficulties of any ex¬ 
tended exploration or minute examination of 
this country are very nearly Insurmountable, 
especially at this season. It would require an 
almost unlimited amount of money and time, 
and the information additional to that, already 
contained in this letter would not be worth 
the required expenditure of those commodi¬ 
ties. This evening, therefore, we will take 
leave of our companions of the Azov, and 
then—“Ho ! for the sound of St. Michael’s 
| chimes.” 

Homeward Hound. 

Aboard the Azor, June 20.—We weighed 
anchor (that is the sailors did) early ou Tues¬ 
day morning, and soon began to leave Afrie’s 
sunny shores behind us. The last few days I 
have spent ashore, accepting the kind invita¬ 
tion of Mr. Aenmey, the consul, and staying 
at his house. We went all over Monrovia on 
the last evening bidding farewell to the late 
inhabitants of the Azor , in whom it was im¬ 
possible to restrain an interest. They all 
appeared to the last moment tolerably com 
fortable, quite happy and contented and very 
hopeful. We left them, burdened with 
letters, messages, kindly farewells and good 
wishes. 

MY OLD ENEMY, 

the head Krooman, took a last shot at me by 
using his influence to the utmost to incite the 
boat’s crew to mutiny and refuse to row me 
to the ship, and we parted, breathing mutual 
anathemas. A feint of an advance in force, 
however, caused him again to lice inglorious- 
1V, and our last sight of Liberia was this en¬ 
lightened citizen on the hillside, hurling 
maledictions, threats and abuse on the head 














62 


of myself and the entire race of “d—d ’Meri- 
can mans.” 1 left with a splitting headache 
and fever, and came within an ace of having 
my head shaved by zealous friends who were 
certain that it was the dreaded coast fever. 
Indeed it probably was the beginning of an 
attack of that disease, as the ailments afore¬ 
said subsequently developed into a chill. One 
of the last injunctions laid on me was to an¬ 
nounce that Liberia is in need of intelligent 
colored school teachers, and that Monrovia 
wants a barber and restaurant or hotel. 

THE BACKSLIDER. 

Our passenger back now opens his mouth | 
and speaks freely. He says that he feared to 
say what he thought while on Liberian soil,, 
but now abuses the country and people with¬ 
out stint, saying that the former is unhealthy, 
and the latter are dishonest. He tells me 
nothing specific, however, except what is set 
down above. He came out under the aus¬ 
pices of the Colonization Society, and had the 
usual representations, that Liberia was a para¬ 
dise, made to him. Consequently he was dis¬ 
appointed, and consequently disgusted. He I 


tells me, however, that he never went near 
his allotment of land, and he has. therefore, 
done no work. It is no cause for wonder that 
he has not succeeded. 

1 know, however, from other sources, that 
one statement is correct. There was consid¬ 
erable difficulty about his passports, and (nat¬ 
ters were in a hopeless tangle, until he cut 
the Gordian knot with a $5 bill presented to 
the attorney-general, which was in addition 
to the fees paid the secretary of State for the 
documents. Five dollars is pretty cheap for 
an attorney-general, considering the high 
price of all other articles in Liberia. 

The End. 

Off Charleston Harbor, July 24.—After 
an uneventful passage of thirty-six days, 
only varied by a few days drifting under a 
blazing sun, a few days breezy rush with the 
northeast trades, and a struggle through con¬ 
stantly shifting winds, successive squalls, and 
continuous thunder storms in the Gulf Stream, 
we arrived here early this morning. Here end 
the chronicles of the Azov's first voyage to 
Africa. 




















































































































































































































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